Developer Cheung Chung-kiu buys Knightsbridge home for c$A398 million – a Britain record
Billionaire western Chinese property developer Cheung Chung-kiu, better known as CK, is paying a speculated £210 million ($A398 million) for a 45 bedroom home (pictured, top) in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge.
The deal for 2-8A Rutland Gate is the priciest for a Britain residence.
It is undecided whether the purchaser, the founder and chairman of Hong Kong listed CC Land Holdings, will subdivide and sell-down the seven storey, 5760 square metre building at the south west corner of Kensington Road.
As an apartment block, it is reported the venture could reap about £700 million ($A1.33 billion).
Retaining the property as a single house for private client use is also an option, according to a spokesperson for Mr Chung-kiu’s family office published on various outlets.
Elsewhere in London, the businessman paid £1.15 billion (A$2.18 billion) in 2017 for The Leadenhall Building, also known as the “cheese-grater” skyscraper (pictured, right).
CC Land Holdings is also behind Bayswater’s Whiteleys department store redevelopment, in London’s west.
The investor is active in Australia, too: last April it financially backed Propium Capital Partners’ $112 million buy of 85 Spring Street, in the Melbourne CBD.
Mr Chung-kiu’s other company’s include YT Realty and Planetree International Group.
2-8A Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge
Between Kensington Palace Gardens – arguably London’s most exclusive row – and Buckingham Palace, the mid-19th century dwelling at 2-8A Rutland Gate is the subject of a Wikipedia page.
Four homes prior to a 1982 design competition, it was renovated in the early 1990s – interiors created over two years by French designer Alberto Pinto (the designer is said to have updated some of these in the early 2000s at a cost of and £50 million, or $A94.7 million).
The residence also includes a swimming pool, health spa, gym, underground car park.
Sixty eight of its bulletproof windows face Hyde Park.
Former Lebanon prime minister, billionaire Rafic Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005, once lived at the home.
It was then given to, and was last occupied by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdulaziz,who died in 2011.
When 2-8 Rutland Gate hit the market in 2012, it carried a price guide of £300 million ($A568.5 million).
Record price
Gary Hersham of Beachamp Estates marketed 2-8A Rutland Gate.
The sale price smashes the £140 million ($A265.3 million) outlaid in 2011 by Russian-born banker Andrey Borodin for Park Place Estate – a country property with a Grade II residence in Henley-on-Thames, Berkshire.
It also surpasses the £137 million ($A259.6 million) paid in the same year to developers Nick and Christian Candy for a penthouse within the exclusive One Hyde Park apartment complex, near 2-8A Rutland Gate.
Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who spent US$238 million ($A344.9 million) on a Manhattan apartment last year – paid £95 million (A$180 million) last January for a Grade II listed Georgian mansion, 3 Carlton Gardens, overlooking St James Park, within cooee of Buckingham Palace.
