It’s a do-er-upper worthy of Rami Malek’s latest Bond villain Safin. A deserted, former military compound housed on its own private island right in the middle of the busiest shipping lane in the world. And it just sold for about the price of a two-bed in South West London.
Like everyone else, we breathlessly reported that the island was for sale last August, and then thought nothing of it for a while. The scent went dead and the island continued to crumble with another year of constant barrage from the elements. Meanwhile house prices on the coast soared, with Londoners fleeing the capital looking for commutable options with WFH-ability. If the middle of the solent had followed nearby-ish Hastings the £750,000 asking price would’ve hit £900,000. However, it seems that the walk to the nearest railway station (around three miles. on water) perhaps put off potential buyers and the final price was £715,000.
There were originally three islands for sale, Horse Sand Fort, No Man’s Fort and Spitbank Fort. Built as defences by the Victorians, No Man’s Fort and Spitbank Fort have both been converted into luxury hotels already and so were viable as going concerns, or (better) converting into your own personal Bond Villain lairs. They’re on at around £4m each, which is slightly out of most people’s budget.
You probably could plausibly get together with a few mates and have a constructive conversation with your bank manager…
But their sister island, Horse Sand Fort, was being marketed at just £750,000. Which was suddenly within at least the realms of outside possibility for a lot of people. You probably could plausibly get together with a few mates and have a constructive conversation with your bank manager (until the point you mentioned the address, at least). Sure, it’s mainly priced so cheap because it’s in need of a lick of paint, but still…
The eventual buyer, who is unnamed, plans to “develop the site for a leisure use”, according to estate agent Colliers, who sold the property. Which make sense.
Spitbank Fort, the smallest of the trio that was on the market for £4m, is run as a boutique hotel with just nine suites. Extensively renovated the fort comes with period features (fireplaces, vaulted ceilings, er… gun emplacements) but also mod cons like rooftop hot-tubs.
It cost around £8m to get get Spitbank Fort fighting fit…
Presumably the buyer of Horse Sand Fort intends to do something similar. But this will take serious amounts of money. The buyer better not be on the edge of their budget as it cost around £8m to get get Spitbank Fort fighting fit. And Horse Sand Fort is in a bad way.
But the location, directly between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight make it perfect for anyone who loves the sea, anyone who loves seclusion or anyone on the run from the authorities or looking to hold the entire world to ransom as part of a mwa-ha-ha-ha type dastardly plan.
With deep enough pockets this could be one of the most luxurious boutique resorts in the country…
And set over 100 rooms and an incredible 100,000 square feet of space, there’s so much room to create something ambitious. The former anti-aircraft gun structure will no doubt be re-enforced enough to convert into a helipad, there’s fresh water from a well tapping into underground springs so potentially a pool. With deep enough pockets this could be one of the most luxurious boutique resorts in the country.
Meanwhile, if you’re worried you missed out on an investment opportunity you still have the choice of No Man’s Land Fort and Spitbank Fort. The current owner, Dreams bed company founder Mike Clare, has set a November 26th deadline for offers, and has slashed the price of No Man’s Land Fort from £4.25m to £3.6m. Time for a dig around the back of the sofa?
