For Sale: One Dome

Residential and commercial property operators and estate agents have long looked covetously or in dismay at the vast peninsula site on which sits the once infamous Dome on the Thames in London’s north Greenwich.

In the past every type of development plan was put forward by property companies and estate agents. The Dome was such a disaster that the Blair government which had backed it became desperate to get shot of it. It was called everything from Mandelson’s madhouse to Blair’s Big Top. It was also called many other things which are unprintable.

Even the government’s Millenium night party at the new Dome turned into a laughing stock. Dignitaries done up in their finery were kept waiting for hours. Some failed to get boats to ferry them across the river. Others endured long queues. Those who finally navigated the obstacles said it was the most chaotic and cheesy junket held in Europe.

All ideas for putting the white elephant out of its misery were welcome. They ranged from a casino to a funfair, from a hotel to a holiday camp and a go-kart track.

Some said it should be a prison or a holding centre for illegal immigrants – which went down well with locals. Others said it was only fit for wild animals and should be a zoo until it was pointed out that it would not take a lion long to chew through a tent. Others wanted to turn it into a terminal for liners when it was still fashionable to go cruising.

Things have changed. Liner operators are almost giving cruises away. Cruising has become a metaphor for downmarket excursions. Reports of ‘chavs’ running riot and being given cheap tickets to fill the ships have wrecked any notions about exclusivity.

But the once forlorn Dome is now called the 02 arena. Against all the odds the world’s ugliest duckling has transformed itself into a lustrous swan. It has become one of the most successful concert and exhibition venues on the globe. And it is now up for sale.

Leonard Cohen and Barbra Streisand have played there – as well as rock gods Led Zeppelin. The Tutankhamun exhibition was another success. O2 sold nearly two million tickets for shows in 2008 putting it well ahead of New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The 02 arena is owned by property groups Quintain Estates and Lend Lease. They have instructed Michael Elliott and Savills as advisers. The asking price is believed to be about £35 million. The 02 complex is operated by US entertainment group Anschutz.

Quintain and Lend Lease operate O2 through a company called Meridian Delta Dome. MDD has a 999 year lease. The government still owns the freehold of the property. If the site were redeveloped taxpayers would be entitled to a cut of profits.