One of the most recognizable buildings in London has seen substantial interest from buyers, as its latest developers try to create an 8 billion pounds ($12.9 billion) "new city center" south of the Thames.
Battersea Power Station has been through several different owners since it was decommissioned nearly three decades ago, but none has succeeded in putting their redevelopment plans into action.
The latest investors, a Malaysian consortium, bought the site from Ireland's National Asset Management Agency, which manages debts that have been taken on by the Irish state, after its previous owners were put into receivership.
Rob Tincknell, chief executive officer of Battersea Power Station Development Company, told CNBC he was confident of the latest scheme's success, with close to 600 of the high-end apartments and townhouses -three-quarters of those available - already reserved less than a week after they went on the market. The properties come with a hefty price tag of more than 1,000 pounds ($1,600) per square foot,and the most expensive penthouses are expected to reach more than 6 million pounds ($9.6 million).
"We are the town center of a bigger area – Nine Elms. This whole site is now under development and we are the new town center," Tincknell said. "We are just a mile from Westminster [home to the U.K. parliament]."
(Read More: Is London Property Market a Bubble?)
The news came after some better-than-expected data on the U.K. housing market. The influential Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors survey said that estate agents are more optimistic than they have been for nearly two years – and added that banks were finally bringing mortgage rates down.