Nama puts iconic London Odeon cinema on market

ONE OF London’s most high-profile buildings, the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, is to be sold following an agreement between the National Asset Management Agency and Real Estate Resolutions, which owns part of the property.

The deal is likely to prove extremely lucrative for Real Estate Resolutions, a property company run by former Ballymore Properties executive Tim Farrow but owned by Irish investor Frank Woods, London property figures said yesterday.

Nama could not sell its share of the property, and adjacent land which borders Panton Street and Whitcomb Street, without the agreement of Real Estate Resolutions, since the latter owns all, or nearly all of the street frontage.

The site, one of the busiest in the city, received planning permission three years ago for a 200,00sq ft scheme which included a 245-bed four-star hotel, 33 flats, four restaurants and a two-screen Odeon cinema.

The property, which could be worth up to £100 million, will be sold by Knight Frank and CB Richard Ellis, which have been appointed by the receivers. But it is reported by Property Week that a number of potential clients, including Criterion Capital, have already made approaches.

Hundreds of devoted Harry Potterfans queued for days outside the cinema this week in advance of the world premiere of the final movie in the series, the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The site was first bought by a consortium of three Irish entrepreneurs – former Ireland rugby manager Pat Whelan, Pat Chesser and Paul Hanby – known in London property circles as “the 3Ps” – using loans provided by Anglo-Irish. The Odeon deal ended up in the High Court in 2009 in Ireland after Mr Woods sued two of the partnership, Mr Whelan and Mr Chesser, who were both directors of the Limerick-based Callerview Properties.

Mr Woods claimed that he gave a £10 million loan in 2007 to fund the Odeon deal and that he was to receive a number of securities, including one on a property in Ennis, Co Clare, and two properties in Luxembourg.

Nama is taking an increasingly aggressive attitude to disposing of properties that it controls in London, though it recently denied charges that it is readying to put up to £9 billion worth of property in the city on the market before the end of 2013.

Earlier this week, the High Court in Dublin was told by property developer David Daly that he had been approached by French billionaire Bernard Arnault to sell some of his London properties after Nama had sought the repayment of €457 million worth of loans.