Scotland Yard, the famous headquarters of London's Metropolitan police force, has been sold to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group for £370M ($577M), or $187M above its original asking price, after three months on the market. The world's most culturally distinguished police force gained renown early on with the Jack the Ripper case, and has since featured in Sherlock Holmes stories, James Bond novels, and Agatha Christie's mysteries.
However, their current glass-fronted headquarters dating to 1967 are hardly inspiring (especially when compared to the fortress-like Old Scotland Yard building, on the banks of the Thames River, that housed the force from 1890 on). The sale of the charmless office tower is part of a larger downsizing effort by the Metropolitan police; the force will move into a smaller, newly modernized 19th-century police estate, the Curtis Green Building, in 2015.
The profits from the sale will be used to equip officers with tech gadgets like tablets and body cameras, and— if there is enough money left over— will go toward creating a dedicated museum for Scotland Yard's collection of crime memorabilia. Historic photos, below:
· Scotland Yard Sold to Arab Investors for £120 Million Above the Asking Price [Telegraph]
· Now You Can Buy London's Scotland Yard for $410 Million [Curbed National]
· All Sold Stuff posts [Curbed National]