Final chapter: King’s Cross’s £3bn transformation is on the home straight
(Picture: Daniel Lynch)The last new apartments to go on sale at the £3 billion King’s Cross regeneration development are launched this week, 12 years after the first residential block at the scheme came on the market.
The Capella building at Lewis Cubitt Park will have 120 private sale and 56 social rented apartments. Prices of the private apartments start from £650,000 for studios and there will also be one, two and three-bedroom apartments and townhouses. It is due for completion in 2024.
Robert Evans, joint managing partner at developers Argent and head of the scheme, said the launch represented a “significant milestone” in the history of King’s Cross, once a by-word for urban squalor.
He described it as “the final opportunity to become part of this extraordinary neighbourhood.”
Shared facilities at Capella will include a roof terrace overlooking King’s Cross, residents’ lounge, open plan and private working areas, cinema room, games area and bookable dining room. The development is designed by architects Allies Morrison, with interiors by Farringdon based Johnson Naylor.
It comes more than a decade after the first King’s Cross residential building, ArtHouse, was launched in 2010 with developments subsequently being brought to market at the rate of roughly one a year ever since.
The penultimate building Cadence launched in February 2020 and is almost fully sold apart from “ten to 12 at the top that have not been released yet.”
Mr Evans said that once all the homes are built and sold there will be around 6,000 people living at the 67 acre King’s Cross with a further 30,000 working and 5,000 studying there.
James Cohen, a partner in the new homes team at Knight Frank, which is handling the launch of Capella, said it would appeal to buyers looking for a City living lifestyle, including those “boomerang buyers” who were returning to London after trying out the countryside during the pandemic.
He said: “The ‘escape to the country’ trend was dominant during lockdown, but we’re now seeing the return of the ‘boomerang buyer’ in London. Demand for property in the city has risen strongly, with the number of new prospective buyers 67 per cent higher compared to the five-year average.
“Kings Cross continues to be one of the most successful regeneration projects of the last decade and as the final residential chapter, Capella brings an incredible and unparalleled period of regeneration to a close. The area has completely transformed into one of the most sought-after residential districts in London.
Following the hugely successful launch of Cadence in 2020, we’re expecting Capella to follow suit.”
