London Mansion Picked Up By Russian Billionaire

On the back of the London housing market being restarted, Beauchamp Estates have successfully sold for £15.45 million a mansion at 26 Old Queen Street on behalf of the vendor, the Canadian based Benisti Family Office, selling to the buyer, an ultra-high-net-worth Russian billionaire.

At £15.45 million the sale of 26 Old Queen Street , overlooking St James’s Park, is the largest single residential sale done during the UK COVID-19 lockdown period, setting a new price record for the local St James’s marketplace. 26 Old Queen Street exchanged and completed on Friday 15^th May, following Wednesday 13^th May’s restarting of the London housing market.

The 6,573 sqft five bedroom townhouse-mansion, which has  sold for £15.45 million (£2,351 per sqft), this is a £ per sqft record for the St James’s Park local area, the last big deal in the local area was back in August 2018 when a house at 28 Queen Anne’s Gate sold for £2,213 per sqft. At almost £15.5 million the sale is the biggest single resi-property deal above £10 million to be done during and following the Lockdown in London.

The vendor was the Canadian Benisti family, via their Benisti Family Office, the buyer a Russian billionaire, in his 40s, girlfriend and children from a previous marriage: the buyer owns a leading energy group. Gary Hersham, Founding Director of Beauchamp Estates was the agent who brokered the deal.

The Russian buyer had a budget of £25 million and wanted a home in Prime Central London – between the River Thames and Marble Arch, something inside Brompton Road/Harrods to the West and Tottenham Court Road to Trafalgar Square in the East.

The Russian and his girlfriend looked at a house in Belgravia, priced at £2,800 per sqft, and a smaller house in Mayfair priced at £5,500 per sqft, they started looking in late January 2020, they reached agreement to purchase 26 Old Queen Street on 20^th March, just prior to the lockdown. On Wednesday 13^th May they were able to reinspect the house and the lawyers finalised the deal, which completed on Friday 15^th May.

With interior design by Nicola Fontanella of Argent Design – the Hollywood-&-London interior designer for Madonna, Guy Ritchie and Naomi Campbell – the lavish town- mansion has three large reception rooms, study, library, five bedroom suites, club room with rooftop terrace, wine/champagne store and private rear garden overlooking St James’s Park and Palace.

Jeremy Gee, Managing Director of Beauchamp Estates says: “The sale of 26 Old Queen Street for £15.5 million during the London lockdown is the largest single residential sale during this period, it shows confidence in the Prime London market. This is not an isolated sale above £10 million, and we have been encouraged by the ongoing activity at the top end of the market. The vendor was the Canadian based Benisti Family Office, the buyer an ultra-high-net-worth international businessman. The Benisti Family Office are so confident about the super-prime London market that they have placed the adjacent mansion at 28 Old Queen Street on the market, which they also own, and they and Beauchamp Estates are confident that we will sell or let this outstanding property over the next few months. London is a global property market, a “property island” distinctive from the rest of the UK. The jewel in the crown is Prime Central London, which has always attractive ultra-wealthy buyers from across the globe and will continue to do so, this ultra-top end of the market was busy at the start of the 2020 after the Boris Election, activity continued during the lockdown, and now the market has been restarted, we forecast a busy few months as pent up demand is released.”

A Spokesman for the Canadian based Benisti Family Office says: “Working with Beauchamp Estates we have just successfully sold No.26 on Old Queen Street and this sale has helped to set the price of the current property (No.28) we have now released for sale. Our expectation is for houses to outperform flats in the £10 million plus marketplace due to the changing consumer behaviour triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Buyers are wanting more space, a private garden and direct access to a park. They are wary of apartment buildings which need to be accessed by shared foyers and passenger lifts. We believe that our product, in the form of this magnificent new townhouse-mansion on Old Queen Street, is ideal for the current market and we believe we are currently in an extremely good position to sell/let this house over the coming months.”

The newly released for sale house at No.28 is a magnificent Grade II listed five bedroom Georgian townhouse-mansion on Old Queen Street, providing 6,608 sqft of luxurious living space with a private rear garden, once the home of Harriet Beauclerk nee Coutts, the Coutts & Co bank heiress; with direct views from the upper floors over two Royal palaces and St James’s Park.

Set in St James’s Park, with the rear façade with bay windows and garden overlooking Birdcage Walk and the Royal Park, the Old Queen Street townhouse-mansion at No.28 is located between Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster, originally built in 1770 and completely refurbished and modernised in 2015. The No.10 Downing Street style black-brick Georgian townhouse-mansion has been given a dramatic makeover inside and offers luxurious living space over eight floors including the original Piano Nobile floors that accommodate the grand reception rooms, white limestone staircase, passenger lift to all floors, champagne/wine store, private cinema/media room with terrace, with the private garden adjacent to the Royal park.

There is also a state-of-the-art three dimensional 360 degree Matterport ‘virtual viewing’ tour of Old Queen Street available meaning that buyers and their representatives can have a first viewing of the mansion-townhouse via Matterport, whilst engaging with the sales agents on Zoom-video, enabling them to have a remote tour and discussion with the agents from the comfort of their own home/office before deciding on having a physical viewing with the new COVID-19 safeguarding procedures in place.

The newly launched mansion-townhouse at 28 Old Queen Street is for sale for £17,750,000. To book a physical viewing or remote ‘virtual tour’ of Old Queen Street contact Beauchamp Estates on Tel: +44 (0)20 7499 7722 E: londonsales@beauchamp.com  or visit www.beauchamp.com