LaSalle buy up Cowgate site in £30.6m deal

LaSalle Investment Management has acquired Edinburgh’s infamous Cowgate fire site, SoCo, from developers Jansens in a £30.6 million deal.

The deal was announced as work formally commenced on the proposed city centre hotel complex yesterday, which is now expected to be complete in December 2013 after several years’ delay. The development, on the site of the former University of Edinburgh School of Informatics and the Gilded Balloon comedy venue – which burned to the ground in 2002 – will be home to an Ibis hotel, shops and restaurants, pictured above.

John Yeend, director of LaSalle said: “This represents a substantial opportunity to secure an attractive long-term investment in a key city centre site in Scotland’s capital. It also represents a strong vote of confidence in Edinburgh’s economy.

“As the UK’s second city of tourism, we know that room occupancy levels and yields have remained amongst the highest in the UK for many years.”