Gillette Corner Has Been Put Up For Sale
Iconic local landmark could fetch over £20 million
The iconic Gillette Corner site has been put on the market by the Irish National Asset Management Agency, NAMA.
Property Week magazine has reported that the complex on Gillette Corner on the A4 is being put on the market by Savills and is expected to fetch in the region of £20m.
The site had once been earmarked for a hotel and business campus by the Bonnington Group but the plans ran into financial difficulties.
Agents for the group, Savills and Mason Owen & Lyons said in a statement that they had brought the site on the Great West Road to the market. The site extends to 10.25 acres and includes a main building totalling circa 327,000 sq ft (30,378 sq m) and features a Grade II listed building with prominent landmark clock tower, as well as several storage and warehouse buildings, taking the total existing uses to circa 500,000 sq ft.
The former site of the European headquarters of Gillette was originally bought in 2005 for £30 million by Donegal developer Jim McGettigan’s Bonnington Group.
A spokesman for NAMA couldn't comment on whether it was involved in the reported sale.
The iconic building which is located where Syon Lane crosses the A4, was designed by Sir Branister Fletcher and incorporated a high brick tower surmounted by a four-faced illuminated clock. It is a prominent local landmark which can been seen from miles away.
Bonnington had been granted planning permission for the redevelopment into a business campus and a 500-bedroom hotel, complete with restaurant, meeting rooms and gym.
Councillor Ruth Cadbury, Hounslow Council’s cabinet member for planning and regeneration, said: “The Gillette building has long been an icon on the Golden Mile so I can imagine this news has set the property world buzzing.
“It’s a prime location, between Heathrow and central London, and the level of interest shown is another sign that Hounslow’s regeneration is really taking off.”
The Gillette company pulled out of the site in 2006 and relocated to eastern Europe.
When it was pushing its redevelopment plan, Bonnington said that it would bring substantial regeneration benefits for the wider area, including the creation of almost 2,300 jobs and the restoration of a listed building. It was reported in 2008 that the company had scaled back their plans because of the then credit crunch.
Planning permission has previously been granted by Hounslow Council for complete redevelopment of the site, including office, hotel and restaurant use. Bonnington had previously planned to develop a 300-bed four-star hotel and business park at Gillette Corner but in 2011 it ran into difficulties repaying a £67 million loan to Allied Irish Bank (AIB).
February 15, 2013