thames tower - what happened....?

[Ultra]

No, it's the building next door, where BT used to be.

[davieG]

No, it's the building next door, where BT used to be.

The same building complex surely and didn't BT used to be in the tower as well

[hairy]

Now they have suddenly noticed there are too many flats in the city centre....and its all the banks fault that they are empty.....nothing to do with Leicester Regeneration

A £12m project to sell luxury flats in Leicester has collapsed because of the crash in the property market.

Almost 100 of the 112 apartments at the 16-storey Thames Tower complex remain unsold eight months after the scheme was completed.

Now, the company behind the project has gone into administration because of the huge cost of running the near-empty 190ft building.

Brampton Asset Management (Leicester) secured deposits for all 112 flats in early 2006, at the height of the property boom.

However, only 14 were actually sold after most of the investors pulled out.

The would-be buyers were frightened off by the credit crunch as the value of the apartments, which had averaged £125,000, plunged by more than a third in price.

Investors lost the 10% deposits they had to put down to secure the flats.

Brian Rabinowitz, Brampton's managing director, said the building, which was also redeveloped for offices and shops, was costing £27,000 a month to run, which included business rates, security and cleaning.

"There's only so long you can keep carrying that kind of cost," he said.

Regeneration experts today said they believed many similar redevelopment projects were in danger of collapse because of the credit crisis.

They blamed banks for cutting off the supply of mortgages to both investors and first-time buyers.

Mr Rabinowitz, who has successful developed flats in other cities, said there were "hundreds" of empty flats in the city centre, many of which had been built in the past few years.

"There is probably not a single development in Leicester that was developed post-2005 that's not in negative equity," he said.

"Right now people can't afford to buy, and even if they can afford to buy, they don't want to."

Veteran property consultant Rick Moore is the former chairman of Leicester Shire Economic Partnership. He said: "I am surprised there haven't been more administrations in Leicester."

He said the Thames Tower flats would eventually be sold, but for "substantially less" than they had been worth three years ago.

A developer involved in a number of apartment schemes in the city over the past few years, who did not want to be named, said the market was "dreadful" and blamed the banking sector.

"They are not lending at the right ratios and at the right interest rates," he said.

"Thames Tower is in an undesirable part of Leicester. In the boom they would have got away with it, but in a recession you just have to be in a good area."

The city council cabinet housing spokesman, Paul Westley, admitted there were too many empty city centre flats.

Councillor Westley said he planned to talk to landlords to look at ways in which they could be used to reduce the council's 9,000-strong housing waiting list.

"I would say we are oversubscribed with these kind of developments," he said.

"But there is a shortage of housing in the city. Empty properties are simply no good for anybody."

Joint administrator Chris Stirland, an associate director at Vantis Business Recovery Services, said the building would either be sold to another business or new investment could be secured.

[Bellend Sebastian]

I know practically shite all about the property market, but for several years I've wondered why no-one builds anything but flats. I KNOW it's a lot to do with rising land prices, but surely there are only so many people that want to live in the sodding things

[Ultra]

Absolutely, and there are plenty of other cities besides Leicester where the same thing has happened.

Property developers have been buned through being too greedy, and we're supposed to feel sorry for them?

[hairy]

Absolutely, and there are plenty of other cities besides Leicester where the same thing has happened.

Property developers have been buned through being too greedy, and we're supposed to feel sorry for them?

lets not forget the greedy council tax the developers now have to pay on empty properties hence the £27k per month running costs. I know it was introduced to encourage developers / landlords to rent empty property but at the moment it is sending a lot of them down the pan leaving the banks and creditors having to write off debts which has a knock on effect to all.

[Lillehamring]

"They are not lending at the right ratios and at the right interest rates," he said.

"Thames Tower is in an undesirable part of Leicester. In the boom they would have got away with it, but in a recession you just have to be in a good area."

so, if the banks changed their lending policies people would suddenly want to live in an undesirable location (not to mention a vile building)

i love to see all these developers squirming, serves them right, no sympathy here...

maybe now the couuncil can step in and bulldoze the bastard and sort out a decent pedestrian link to the city and the cultural quarter...

[hairy]

maybe now the couuncil can step in and bulldoze the bastard and sort out a decent pedestrian link to the city and the cultural quarter...

Thats been put forward and put on hold. The link runs inbetween Thames Tower and St Margarets Church from Abbey Park to the bus station. It includes cafes, bars, offices, retail and of course flats.

[Lillehamring]

Thats been put forward and put on hold. The link runs inbetween Thames Tower and St Margarets Church from Abbey Park to the bus station. It includes cafes, bars, offices, retail and of course flats.

typical.

but anything is better than that piss stained death trap tunnel visitors to the city are welcomed by