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Camden New Journal - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 17 May 2007

Firms’ HQ bought by market bosses for £5m

A COUNCIL-owned base for small businesses has been sold for £5 million to the owners of the growing Camden market empire.
The 12-unit James Cameron House, in Castlehaven Road, Camden Town, was sold to Ground Gilbey Ltd, whose shareholders own Camden Market Estates and Hawley Wharf, last Wednesday.
The sale of the 1990s complex of suites and media studios was agreed by the council’s then Labour executive in February 2006 after approaches by the owners of Stables Market with a deal “sufficiently in excess of market value”. The council had initially said Cameron House was not for sale.
Tenants complained they had not been given the chance to buy out their leases.
Saad Saraf, a tenant of 16 years, said: “We could have matched this bid but we were never given the opportunity. Nobody at the council has listened to us, and nobody has put this out to a competitive bid.
“We are in a state of limbo that could see several of us moving away and looking for places outside the borough.”
Both the current Lib Dem and former Labour finance chiefs have defended the deal. Councillor Anna Stewart, who sat on the Labour executive which approved the sale, said it was made “in good faith” and in “accordance with officer advice that it was in the best interest of the council.”
The council will take an undisclosed share of any profit the new owners make from redevelopment of the site.

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