Brothers eye £400m from M&S bargain
Two brothers could make almost £400m from the redevelopment of the former Marks & Spencer headquarters in London.
M&S sold its leasehold interest in the Baker Street building in February 2005 for only £115m.
Now property agents believe the building would fetch more than £600m if developers Ian and Richard Livingstone decide to sell it.
The secretive brothers are reported to have spent £100m developing the site, creating 450,000 square feet of offices, a basement gym, 28 mews houses and retail space along the ground floor below the offices. A number of high-profile tenants are believed to have rented flats there.
The building had been let to M&S on a 100-year lease at a peppercorn rent of £16,000 a year - the equivalent of 60p per square foot.
In 2001 the retailer's former chairman Luc Vandevelde decided to move M&S from the site to Paddington.
The Baker Street building - called Michael House to match the group's St Michael brand - was one of the best-known corporate headquarters in Britain. But it was thought the site had come to symbolise all that was wrong with the retailer before its turnaround. Visitors could judge workers' positions in the company by looking at the quality of furnishings in their office.
M&S had plans to redevelop the headquarters itself, but in February 2005, chief executive Stuart Rose made the decision to sell its long leasehold interest to London & Regional, the private property company controlled by the Livingstone brothers. Ian, a former optometrist, and Richard, a chartered surveyor, are thought to be worth £1.8bn.
The brothers appeared at number 29 in the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, with a worth of £1,880m. Last year they were much further down the list at number 117, worth £537m. Their property portfolio includes the Park Lane Hilton and the Empire in Leicester Square.
They also bought the David Lloyd fitness chain for £925m in June.
In February they won the right to build a £355m mini-city on the banks of the Panama Canal.
The Livingstones helped expose former Lawrence Graham solicitor Michael Fielding, who fleeced his clients - including the brothers - of £6.5m and was jailed. They sued Lawrence Graham in 2005 for £30m but have settled the case.
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