OTTAWA -- Canada's top diplomat in the United Kingdom says security concerns were one consideration in the $530-million sale of the historic London mansion that houses part of the Canadian High Commission.
But High Commissioner Gordon Campbell said Canada managed to sell Macdonald House at One Grosvenor Square in London to the highest bidder, an Indian developer.
The Mumbai-based Lodha Group will take over the downtown property in London's posh Mayfair district in December 2014. The deal was announced Thursday after the Harper government declared its intention to sell it earlier this year.
Canada plans to consolidate its diplomatic activity at another historic
property, Canada House on Trafalgar Square in the heart of London.
Campbell wouldn't say who else was interested in the Canadian property,
but he hinted that the government was sensitive to the good neighbour
it was leaving behind on Grosvenor Square -- the U.S. embassy.
London has become a favoured destination of deep-pocketed Russian
oligarchs looking for property, which has led some to pejoratively label
the city Londongrad. Relations between the U.S. and Russia soured over
the last year because of Moscow's decision to grant asylum to Edward
Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker that Washington wanted to
prosecute.
"We had over 106 tours of the actual property by international
investors from all over the world," Campbell told The Canadian Press
from London.
"We had a whole matrix of decisions we had to go through, including
best value, lowest risk, any security risks certainly were all pursued."
In the end, Campbell said, the property was sold to the highest bidder.
"We had lots of very good bidders and this was the highest evaluated bid that we had, and it's a very good bid for Canada."
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