[WonderlandPark]

Oh crap, I think you are correct:

London is sort of like Los Angeles, it takes for freaking ever to get something through the approval and planning pipeline, and when the time finally comes to put a shovel in the ground, the economy turns sour.

British Land May Delay `Cheesegrater' Tower to 2012 (Update1)

By Peter Woodifield

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- British Land Co., London's biggest developer, may delay building the tower known as the Cheesegrater by at least a year as demand for office space falls, the company said as it announced a loss in the fiscal first quarter.

The 600,000-square-foot (55,740-square-meter) Leadenhall Building, a 47-story tower designed by Richard Rogers in London's main financial district, may now open in 2012 or later, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said today on a conference call. Construction was due to begin next year.

The Cheesegrater is the second skyscraper in three months to be put on hold as layoffs in the City of London limit demand for space, prompting rents to fall. The Centre for Economics and Business Research said in June that London may lose 19,000 finance jobs by the end of 2009. The layoffs come as banks and financial companies grapple with losses and writedowns of more than $500 billion arising from the subprime mortgage crisis.

``We want premium rents for a premium building,'' said Hester. ``By waiting a little longer rents will have recovered more.''

British Land, which yesterday fell the most in 16 years in London trading, were unchanged at 722 pence in London, for a market value of 3.7 billion pounds ($6.9 billion). The shares are down 40 percent in the last 12 months.