London

FIFTEEN years ago, London's Regent Street was known for Liberty, the high-end department store with its mock Tudor facade, and Hamleys, the 255-year-old toymaker. Today, it's a global shopping mecca. Apple, JCrew, Hugo Boss, Michael Kors, and Brooks Brothers, among others, have opened flagship megastores on Regent Street, turning it into a giant outdoor mall in the heart of London.

This didn't happen by accident. Almost all of Regent Street (along with huge swaths of central London) is owned by the Crown Estate, which manages a property portfolio worth £11 billion (S$23.7 billion) on behalf of the British monarchy and Her Majesty's Treasury. Once a sleepy rent collector, the Crown Estate has morphed into a nimble corporate property investor that has helped keep London in the forefront of great world cities.