Battersea Power Station’s lenders have called in the administrators.
Lloyds Banking Group and the Irish National Asset Management Agency are seeking repayment of £324m from the site’s holding company, which is majority owned by Real Estate Opportunities.
The two lenders have applied to the High Court for Ernst & Young to be appointed as administrators. A hearing is scheduled for December 12th.
Redevelopment plans for the 40 acre site include 3,400 new homes and over 15,000 new jobs and training opportunities.
The scheme was seen as the catalyst for regenerating the Nine Elms area, with developers helping to fund an extension of the Northern Line to Nine Elms and Battersea.
Earlier this week Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Chancellor George Osborne visited the site and Johnson has been talking up ministerial “support” for the redevelopment after Osborne cited it in Tuesday’s Autumn Statement.
In a statement on his re-election site, the Mayor claimed he had “the Government’s full support” for the scheme.
Despite the rhetoric, support is limited only to a commitment to “consider allowing the Mayor of London and partner authorities to borrow against the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)” to support the scheme.
No Government money has been offered.
Famed for its four chimney stacks, the Battersea Power Station was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert-Scott and has lain empty since 1983.