A luxury development by IJM Land and marketed by Knight Frank.
It turns out that IJM Land is one of Malaysian's largest property developer, listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange. We were very interested by this development as it appeared that this was IJM Land's first foray into London.
(image taken from the royalmint website)
Location
The location is very promising. It is very close to the City of London. For my recent site visit, I got off at Tower Hill Tube Station and took a walk towards Royal Mint Street. It was about 3 minutes walk (ok I walk quite fast, but most Londoners do!)
On Google Maps, this development it is on Royal Mint Street (which is a very short street), and right next to Tower Hill Docklands Light Rail (DLR) station.
A short video I took of the location back in Oct 2013. It was a rainy day. You can see the plot of land and how close it is to the DLR station.
High Price?
Well, you can't fault developers for trying to make good profits. In terms of price, we felt that this development was priced rather aggressively (800 to 1,000 psf). However, now that I have physically been on site, I don't think that the pricing is unreasonable. In terms of potential capital appreciation and rental potential, this development is very strong in this respect. Why didn't we buy? Well, the price tag was a tad too hefty for us. You can read more about our investment strategies in this post.
You may think that the immediate area looks rather run-down. To tell the truth, it is. The issue is whether the area has the potential and whether there are more investments coming in here. The answer to both question is yes and yes! There are many exciting developments coming up in this vicinity. Why? Location-wise, it can't be beaten. It is right at the door-step of the City of London.
The Royal Mint Development would definitely help transform this entire area. I certainly look forward to Royal Mint completing in 2017!
By the way, this development is also very near the Broadgate Complex that GIC has invested in.
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