A landmark project to build Scotland’s tallest building in Charing Cross, Glasgow, has been felled by the credit squeeze.
A joint venture between Glasgow developer Elphinstone and the now bankrupt Harrogate-based developer City Lofts had been intending to start work on the £120m, 40-storey mixed-use tower later this year.
However Ken Ross, chairman and chief executive of Elphinstone, said: “The project is unlikely to happen in its original form.”
Gavin Angel, director of City Lofts St Vincent, the special purpose vehicle behind the tower, said: “It is difficult to proceed with a project of the type [envisaged] in the current economic environment.”
City Lofts St Vincent, which is not in administration, will now work with the funders, New York-based Lehman Brothers, to find the best solution for the 1.4-acre site on the corner of St Vincent Street and India Street.
It is understood that Lehman Brothers is either reluctant or unable to advance as much funding as originally planned.
The 440-foot, 134 metre tower designed by Conran & Partners and Glasgow-based Cooper Cromar, would have been taller than the tower at Glasgow Science Centre, making it Scotland’s tallest.
This article was published in The Sunday Times Scotland’s business section on 13 July 2008.