TfL’s day job is running the capital’s bus and underground network, but it has held on to its land, and 22 years after its creation it remains the third biggest landowner in the capital, after the emirate of Qatar and the mayor of London .. theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/a…
Over the next decade, Graem Craig has drawn up plans to build more than 20,000 homes, with 1,650 already under construction.. The largest development is Earl’s Court, where construction is expected to start in 2025 and take 15 years..
The vision of the Earls Court Development Company, set up by TfL and Delancey, is “to bring the wonder back” to a once iconic music and events venue. But it is a vision that has been delayed and revised, and details are scarce at this stage.. 🤔
The developers went back to the drawing board, and Delancey replaced TfL’s original partner Capital & Counties Properties, after protests over plans to demolish two council estates, which have since been handed back to Hammersmith and Fulham council..
Rather than selling off its lucrative assets, TfL set up a separate property department in 2012 to develop the land and manage the properties. Nearly two-fifths of the current portfolio is shop space, but TfL wants to become a bigger player in offices and housing.
Younger people will have to be coaxed back to the office, he says, and offices will need to have pleasant, open, flexible meeting spaces and other attractions – although TfL’s won’t feature swimming pools and basketball courts, like the new Google headquarters at King’s Cross.
TfL sold land above Crossrail stations, which has generated £300m so far and is expected to bring in £500m in total.
TfL was criticised for selling off the “family silver” – its former Grade I-listed headquarters at 55 Broadway overlooking St James’s Park – to a hotels entrepreneur for £120m in 2019.
Tony Matharu, Grange Hotels’ Managing Director and Founder of IODR, with Paul Nixon (Cricketer), Prince Harry, Prince William and Devon Malcolm (Cricketer)
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"Warring Matharu brothers sell luxury Grange hotels after epic journey" - The Times, 2019 thetimes.co.uk/article/warrin…
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The sale, on which HFF Securities advised, is said to have elicited interest from international property investors and sovereign wealth funds, with a joint bid from CBRE Global Investors and Aprirose understood to have been the underbidder.
Queensgate is a partnership between the Kow family, Alvarium Investments, Peterson Group and Dilmun. It has about £2 billion of assets under management.
It funded the purchase w/a debt facility from Société Générale, the Carlyle Group & Cheyne Capital
After completion, the four Grange hotels will be leased to the operator of the Jurys Inn and Leonardo Hotels brands in a back-to-back deal. Three will be rebranded under the Leonardo Royal flag, with the Holborn property assuming Leonardo’s new lifestyle brand, NYX
The Jurys and Leonardo brands are controlled by Fattal Hotel group, an Israeli company that operates almost 200 hotels in 17 countries, including the Midland Hotel in Manchester and the Grand Harbour Hotel in Southampton. forbes.com/profile/david-…
"Historical and Contemporary Migrations of Central Asian Muslims: History, Culture, and Identity
Conference Programme and Abstracts, April 2024"
- Institute of Ismaili Studies
2023
"A specialized jurisdiction of the Paris prosecutor's office known as JIRS is looking into a villa on the French Riviera. Located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, near Monaco,..
it was once a pied-à-terre for the Zairean dictator Sese Seko Mobutu and his family. Its three swimming pools, tennis court and heliport make it one of the most luxurious villas on the Côte d'Azur... lemonde.fr/en/economy/art…
There is evidence to suggest that the successive acquisition schemes for the villa were carried out in the name of various companies, whose indirect ownership would make Gazprom the beneficial owner,..
2024
"Romania: Four members of criminal group with mafia ties charged with €4.3 million fraud"
"The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bucharest (Romania) has brought charges against four suspects, believed to be part of a criminal ring with ties to Italian mafia groups, for a €4.3 million subsidy fraud involving EU and national funds..
It is alleged that the defendants formed a criminal group with other suspects to provide false letters of guarantee to awardees of projects financed by EU funds, which claimed to insure the projects against potential damages... eppo.europa.eu/en/media/news/…
"The motivation behind the attack is currently unclear. Germany suffered a series of knife and car-ramming terror attacks in the run-up to the February federal elections." telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
"In March, two people were killed after a man with mental illness crashed his car into a crowd of people in the western city of Mannheim. Several others were injured."
2013
"‘Apolitical’ arts organization combatting BDS is front for pro-settler group tied to Israeli Foreign Ministry" 🎶 mondoweiss.net/2013/10/apolit…
StandWithUs registered the domain name for CreativeCommunityForPeace.com on July 28, 2010, with Roz Rothstein listed as the contact, along with the StandWithUs email address of Jerry Rothstein"🎶
New York Times :
How Israel Secretly Propped Up Hamas
"Just weeks before Hamas launched the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the head of Mossad arrived in Doha, Qatar, for a meeting with Qatari officials.".. nytimes.com/2023/12/10/wor…