Former Buddha Bar on London Embankment sold for £3.9m
Former London Embankment bar Buddha Bar has been sold by Savills to One Embankment Limited, jointly owned by David Dangoor and George Hammer, for £3.9m.
Hammer Holdings plans to renovate and re-launch the space under its One brand. It currently operates One Mayfair and One Marylebone.
The property is located immediately under Waterloo Bridge, with doors on to Victoria Embankment next to the River Thames.
Nick Lyell, of Savills leisure and trading team, said: "The former Buddha Bar building offers sizeable premises with a prominent frontage onto Victoria Embankment and was therefore a fantastic opportunity for leisure operators. The purchasers plan to fully refurbish the property in order to launch what will be a third venue in London to provide a glamorous and unique hosting space."
The sale was for the long leasehold, by Savills on behalf of joint administrators LPA Receivers MRM Wild and JD Ariel of Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery LLP.
Created by restaurateur-DJ team Raymond Visan and Claude Challe, Buddha Bar is a global bar, restaurant and hotel brand, in global city locations including Beirut, Manila, Mexico City, Dubai and Budapest.
It has had a somewhat chequered history, including reportedly being forced to change its name in New York, closing after two years in Washington DC, and opening at this London Southbank location in 2008 to distinctly mixed reviews.
That site went into administration in 2010, but the brand has since re-opened in London in 2012 at a different, Knightsbridge location.
