12 | INDUSTRY Developer


NEWS IN BRIEF MCC shortlist is out


INDUSTRY By Robert Dale


TWO of international property development’s most venerable warhorses are looking at new ventures. First up, Peter de Savary has started


LONDON’S world-famous Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has named a shortlist of fi ve property developers for a premium residential scheme at the 16-acre Lord’s cricket ground, next to London’s Regent’s Park. As well as the Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor and Almacantar development arms, the list of bidders also includes Capital & Counties and residential specialists London Newcastle and Native Land. The redevelopment will also increase the number of seats in the cricket stadium from 29,500 seats to 37,000.


Sacresa protection


SPANISH real estate developer Sacresa fi led for protection from creditors holding 1.8 billion euros ($2.22 billion) in debt. A spokeswoman says the decision came after three months of negotiations with banks over how to refi nance the debt ended without agreement. It is the third major Spanish developer to fi le for protection since 2008.


Miami bottoming RESIDENTIAL property prices in Miami are bottoming says the Dade County property appraiser Pedro Garcia. He even predicted a slight increase this year but warned that in recent years developers “were living in dreamland”. He reckons that “we have now hit bottom ... and it looks like we’re going to start going up a little bit - at least 1% to 3% per year.” Dade County has experienced a loss in property tax revenue this year of $30 billion - almost matching last year’s $31 billion fall. The biggest drop has come from a collapse in new construction projects in the area. The volume of single-family homes for sale in the Miami area has halved in the past two years.


Nakheel repayments


DUBAI-BASED developer Nakheel has said it has started the second phase of a repayment schedule to its trade creditors. As part of the recapitalization plan, trade creditors are off ered 100% recovery of their agreed claims, with a 40% cash payment. The remaining balance of 60%, in the form of a publicly tradable security with a 10% annual return, is expected to be issued in the coming months.


to invest again, buying two projects at Newport, Connecticut. And entrepreneur and property mogul Donald Trump is eyeing real estate investments in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Seen by many as one of the shrewdest


players of the overseas property markets, de Savary has been quiet since selling several large schemes in New England in 2005. He is now buying a luxury hotel,


Vanderbilt Hall, in Newport and a half-share in a large condominium development called Brown & Howard Wharf. “I think we’ve sort of hit the bottom of the recession,” de Savary says, adding that he is in the market to buy more property … but “only things that are unique and distinctive and different”. De Savary is reported to have agreed


to pay US $5.7 million for Vanderbilt Hall and will turn it from a suites and


Georgia | Donald Trump’s man was there to “walk the land and smell the dirt.”


timeshare offering into a “hotel mansion” international membership club. He has also taken a 50% ownership stake from Timothy Gay in the Brown & Howard Wharf condominium development for an undisclosed amount: 16 condos have been built and 7 remain to be sold, with prices from US $2.75 million to US $3.5 million for a unit with a rooftop deck. Meanwhile Trump has sent Michael


Cohen, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, to Georgia to sound out possibilities. Cohen visited 13 potential development sites and


said he was impressed by the Black Sea coastal town of Batumi. Although a largely unknown destination outside central Europe, Batumi is popular with tourists from Central Asia due to its temperate climate and proximity to the Turkish border. “I’m here to walk the land and smell the dirt,” said Cohen during a three-day fact fi nding trip to the country’s capital Tbilisi. He has also visited the Adjara region on Georgia’s Black Sea coast but refused to reveal in what kind of investments Trump might be interested.


Spain remains a ‘buyer’s market’


BUYERS’ bargains will remain in Spain for the foreseeable future, but things are easing for developers, according to one industry veteran. “There will be at least two to three


years more of a ‘buyer’s market’,” says Christopher Clover, owner and MD of Marbella-based Panorama. “But the great opportunities will become more and more difficult to find as time passes.” He spoke exclusively to OPP as


Panorama celebrates 40 years in Marbella. Having been the resort’s fi rst international real estate agency in 1970, it is now the longest-established. Supply is the real issue at present,


Clover thinks. Panorama calculated last year that there are fewer than 4,500 properties over €300,000 in quality residential areas on the Spanish resale market. “There have been few properties whose value has not dropped between


20% and 30% in the last couple of years, some more,” Clover continues. “Only the most unique properties have more or less held their value. Compared with a year ago, the volume of sales has increased by easily 50% and deals are being made. It is a very careful, diffi cult buyer market, every day of the week, in all price categories, and negotiations are more diffi cult than ever.” Clover has seen Marbella grow


from a town of 25,000 residents 40 years ago to a de facto population in the winter season of between 250,000


and 300,000 people. “Looking around the rest of the coast, especially east of Marbella, we remain an oasis of low rise buildings with more green areas and sporting facilities than any other municipality on the Costa del Sol.” He puts the company’s longevity


down to well-trained staff, luck, hard work and consistency. “We are meticulous in our details


and our negotiations, we have excellent systems in place which we are constantly improving, and a deep knowledge of our business and especially the ethics involved in being a real estate agent,” Clover concludes.


There are going to be lots of


different sessions for developers and agents at the OPPLive conference in London from October 14 to 16 2010. Please go to www.propertyinvestor. co.uk/london/ now and register.


Clover (left) | 40 years as a “real” agent


www.opp.org.uk | AUGUST 2010 De Savary & Trump say go


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