Weekly news from the Central London Boroughs

A weekly round up of the latest property news from the central London boroughs

City of London

PW reports that The City of London trophy office building Plantation Place is being primed for sale at an asking price of £700m.  Delancey, on behalf of the trustees of the Moise Safra estate, is in talks to sell the 550,000 sq ft building at a yield of 4%. Safra bought the property, on Fenchurch Street, for around £470m in 2012.  Knight Frank and CBRE are advising Delancey.

PW reports that Mitsui Fudosan and Stanhope have signed three new occupiers at Angel Court, letting a total of 90,000 sq ft. Bupa, a new unnamed financial services trade association and Chinese commercial bank Shanghai Pudong Development Bank have signed at the City scheme.

EG reports that the next trophy asset likely to attract further overseas investment into capital isbeing prepped for sale.  Plantation Place on Fenchurch Street, EC3 is being brought to market through Knight Frank and CBRE with a £700 asking price – which is a yield of around 4%.

City of Westminster 

PW reports that Native Land has acquired the long leasehold interest in Regent House, a 1960s building located within The Portman Estate and close to Oxford Street that has been earmarked for a major redevelopment. The site has the benefit of a planning consent  for a mixed-use scheme comprising 43,000 sq ft of grade A office accommodation over six floors as well as 24 private residential apartments. In addition, there will be four ground/lower ground retail units, which will be leased back and directly controlled  by The Portman Estate. Regent House will be Native Land’s first development on The Portman Estate. Construction is due to begin in 2018, with completion in 2020. Cushman and Wakefield acted for The Portman Estate.

PW reports that a new 48,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme has been unveiled by Shaftesbury as part of a £15m development at the eastern gateway to Chinatown. The commercial space, called Central Cross, will create a scheme providing a range of new double-height restaurant and retail units across up to three floors. The food and beverage element of the scheme will complement Chinatown’s existing diverse range, with units ranging from 400 sq ft to 4,300 sq ft.  The development is scheduled to complete late spring 2017. Central Cross borders Chinatown London to the west and the major thoroughfare of Charing Cross Road to the east, and is located where Covent Garden, Soho and Leicester Square meet. The restaurant element of Central Cross, with elevations to Newport Court and Newport Place, will create seven new restaurants, three with external seating, a first for Chinatown London.

PW reports that investment banking provider LXM Group has relocated its UK headquarters from Belgravia to the redeveloped 48 Pall Mall offices, becoming the building’s first tenant. LXM has agreed a 10-year lease for the 3,835 sq ft sixth floor at a rent of £115/sq ft. The new 32,000 sq ft office building has been completely redeveloped behind a partly restored historic façade to provide nine floors of high specification office space that range from 2,000 sq ft to 4,000 sq ft with three roof terraces and cycle storage. LXM’s new HQ will serve as a central hub for its affiliates in New York and Athens and the firm’s chief executive Matthew Mavridoglou said the move strengthens their “commitment to sustained growth”. Savills and CBRE are 48 Pall Mall’s leasing agents. The Lorenz Consultancy acted for LXM.

PW reports that CBRE Global Investors has announced a full-scale redevelopment of Seven Dials Warehouse in Covent Garden, which will create 40,000 sq ft of prime office space. The building at 42-56 Earlham Street is a former Victorian brewery and stationer’s warehouse. More recently is has been the headquarters of Facebook, Expedia and King.com. The six-floor property was given grade II listed status in 2002. CBRE Global Investors has instructed Bluebook and Colliers to let Seven Dials Warehouse.

PW reports that Allsop’s commercial auction team has sold a terraced building in London’s Soho for £4.7m – its highest-value lot so far this year.  The property was sold to a UK company post auction, after initially being offered in the room on 27 March. The purchase reacted a 3.5% yield. The building, 20 Greek Street, covers 2,000 sq ft over four floors, including a ground- floor PizzaExpress restaurant, the lease on which expires in 2020. The vendor, an overseas investor, bought the property in 2006 for £2.37m at a 3.9% yield.

Islington

PW reports that LBS Properties has acquired a north London development site on which it plans to build a 36,000 sq ft office scheme. The London developer has bought 65-70 White Lion Street at Angel, Islington, for £12.6m and secured a £27m debt facility from Cheyne Capital to fund the development of the site. Planning permission is already in place.

RBKC

PW reports that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has granted planning consent to Auriens for a building of 55 luxury retirement living apartments on Dovehouse Street off the King’s Road.  Having been outbid on several Central London locations by other developers, Auriens finally secured its first site in March 2016 and now has received permission to design apartments incorporating 24-hour full care facilities. They will feature a first-class restaurant, a hydrotherapy pool, spa, gym, private members’ club, café, gardens, library and cinema room. Auriens has also signed a partnership deal with nursing and private care provider Draycott Nursing & Care to offer bespoke care to residents.

Tower Hamlets

The Canary Wharf Group is set to developTen Bank Street.  This will be the next state of the art office development available on a prelet basis, situated adjacent to the One Bank Street development. The building is positioned close to Heron Quays DLR station and the Canary Wharf Jubilee Line station. An outline planning consent has been gained for a building of 700,000 sq ft. A tenant will have the unique opportunity to choose the size of the building, layout of the floor plates to suit their occupational requirements, and a façade aligned with their corporate image.