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Financier pays £10m for rooms with this view
Mira Bar-Hillel23 Feb 2009
A flat with possibly the best view in London has been bought for £10million by a leading Conservative donor.
Stanley Fink has taken ownership of the four-storey penthouse at the top of what was the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras station. His apartment in the £200million development gives him a panorama of the city.
Landmarks visible include St Paul's Cathedral, Tower 42, the Gherkin, Barbican, London Eye, Telecom Tower and British Library. He also enjoys a unique perspective of the Eurostar terminal, from 100 feet above the roof of St Pancras itself.
Mr Fink, a 51-year-old father of three, quit as chairman of hedge fund Man Group last year to focus on using his £110million fortune for philanthropy. But he has now returned to finance as chief executive of International Standard Asset Management. He donated £20,000 to Boris Johnson's mayoral campaign and leads a working group on the environment for shadow chancellor George Osborne. He is also a trustee of charity Absolute Return for Kids.
Inside his new 6,000 sq ft home, he is expected to spend millions more. The top level will be a living room with windows on each side and a 25ft ceiling. Beneath will be three floors of bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, kitchen, dining room and library. Harry Handlesman, of the Manhattan Loft Corporation, developer of the 1873 Grade-I listed Midland Grand Hotel, said: "Mr Fink bought smaller flats in the building earlier on as an investment, then decided he wanted a London home for himself and his family.
"There was a complete meeting of minds as to what a treasure we had and how it should be converted. By the time he moves in everyone will be green with envy."
Reader views (7)
St Pancras station and the old midand hotel are treasures and it's just as welll that someone's still able to buy or int would moulder for many more years and fall into decay. Fink and his ilk are at least cross subsidising the restoration of a wonderful pice of London's heriatge
- Antigone, London, 24/02/2009 10:42
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- Libby, London
I don't really admire hedgies, but in fairness the ones you infer suffered misfortune and loss were probably just as greedy in that both wanted to profit in business, but only one side ever does. Do ponder your own moral insight next time you're haggling.
- David, London, UK, 23/02/2009 17:35
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Libby - what do you do fpr a living, if anything? I am sick of reading scathing comments about everyone associated with financial services - for gods sake you people need an education in the workings of not only our economy but the worldwide ecoonomy. All that is wrong with the world is not down to bankers and hedge fund managers!!!!
- Nick, London, 23/02/2009 17:32
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Another hedge funder enjoying his ill gotten gains. Don't they realise, just because these financiers now market themselves as philanthropists, it doesn't cancel out that they accrued their money out of many others misfortune and loss.
- Libby, London, 23/02/2009 15:26
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What a nasty little comment from A Mole, squeak squeak.
- Terry, london, 23/02/2009 15:03
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- A Mole, Isleworth England
Yeah, because Broons mates are not?
I hate being preached to by rich socialists.
- Frank, Home Counties, England. - ( Sick to death of the pandering Liberal-Lefties ), 23/02/2009 15:03
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Nice to know tha Dave's mates are still thriving.
- A Mole, Isleworth England, 23/02/2009 13:55
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