London skyscraper sells for $1.7B

Once called the worst building in London, Rafael Viñoly’s bulging Walkie-Talkie skyscraper, completed in 2014, has just been sold for 1.3 billion pounds, or about $1.7 billion dollars.

Located at 20 Fenchurch Street in the historic City of London financial district, the 37-story office tower was purchased by Hong Kong-based LKK Health Products Group, a member of the century-old Lee Kum Kee Group best known for inventing oyster sauce in 1888.

Despite having, at one time, a few issues with its curving facade generating too much heat and too-strong gusts of wind, the distinctive building clearly has something going for it—to the tune of 35 million pounds per floor, or about $46 million.

Measuring 160 meters tall, or about 525 feet, it’s the sixth-tallest building in the City of London and the 12th tallest in London at large. LKK’s purchase also makes it the “largest ever transaction in the United Kingdom for a stand-alone office building,” according to The New York Times.

Although paying over $1 billion for a single building seems out of this world, New Jersey real estate family the Kushners bought the 41-story 666 Fifth Avenue for $1.8 billion in 2006.

Via: The New York Times