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Bidders on start line for US embassy site
Hugo Duncan4 Dec 2008
Bidders today lined up to buy the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square and turn it into what could be the most prestigious hotel and residential development in the world.
The US Department of State set a midday deadline for bids ahead of moving its diplomats south of the river to Vauxhall by the end of 2016.
Those in the running are thought to include the Duke of Westminster, Shard of Glass developer Irvine Sellar, Sir Stuart Lipton's Chelsfield group, restaurateur Richard Caring, and US hotel firms.
Backed by Qatari money, the Duke of Westminster is favourite to win through his Grosvenor Estates business. It owns the site freehold but agreed a 999-year lease with the US on Christmas Day 1954.
The leasehold for the site, on perhaps London's most famous square, could fetch £250 million-£500 million, depending on how much is paid when between now and 2016.
If the Mayfair building remains unlisted, the buyer is expected to redevelop it into a hotel and apartments worth tens of millions of pounds.
