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Hospital debt woes as Middlesex is sold for a cool £175m
DEBT-ridden UCLH’s money problems look set to be solved after the foundation trust hospital unveiled a multi-million pound deal to sell the three-acre Middlesex Hospital site to luxury developers yesterday.
The deal, worth around £175 million, was confirmed subject to contracts with a property developer on Tuesday.
The sale of the site, which includes a 125-year-old Italian Gothic-style chapel, as well as a mixture of properties dating from the 18th-century to the 1980s, will enable the hospital to pay off its £35 million deficit and invest in new patient facilities.
Behind the purchase is Christian Candy, co-founder of luxury residential developers Candy and Candy, which redeveloped Bowater House in Knightsbridge and specialise in exclusive projects in London and Monaco.
UCLH chief executive, Robert Naylor said: “I am delighted we have sold the redundant Middlesex Hospital at a figure well in excess of our estimates.
“This will allow the Trust to repay the loans needed to help finance the new UCLH on Euston Road and give the board options to develop facilities for patients in future.”
He added: “One of our key objectives was to ensure the planning brief for this site maximised the benefits for the local community of which we form an important part.”
Steven Smith, a director of the purchasing company, confirmed the site would be mixed use, involving homes, offices and shops, but he would not say what proportion of each was planned.
He said: “It’s a unique site. We had to act very quickly to win it.” |
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