Weekly property news from the central London boroughs

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

City of Westminster

EG reports that Royal London Asset Management has bought 15 Great Marlborough Street in Soho from UK Commercial Property REIT for £73.2m. The 49,094 sq ft freehold office building is arranged over nine floors and includes 10,094 sq ft of shops on the ground and lower ground floors. The office space is let entirely to Sony Interactive Entertainment and the retail space is occupied by Costa and Fitness First.

PW reports that Knight Frank has put 21 Queen Anne’s Gate in Westminster on the market at an asking price of more than £11.5m. The building, which was the former headquarters of MI6, housed early Second World War codebreaker activities.

City of London

EG reports that British Land alongside joint venture partner GIC has unveiled its latest move to shake up Broadgate with a new planning application for 1-2 Broadgate, EC2, which shows the developer is continuing to reposition the area as a more diverse, open community that operates seven days a week. Comprised of two basement levels, lower and upper ground levels and 12 upper floors, 1-2 Broadgate will provide 375,000 sq ft of offices between the third and 12th floors and 155,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space. In total, British Land and GIC plan to invest £1.5bn into the 32-acre campus, where around 1m sq ft costing circa £600m is under development.

PW reports that AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets has let 50,000 sq ft at Twentytwo to Beazley. The insurance firm will occupy the 12th and 13th floors of the 62-storey City of London tower on a 15-year lease.

Islington

PW reports that Evans Randall is in the final stages of negotiations to buy a large chunk of London’s Clerkenwell for up to £200m. The Clerkenwell Collection, owned by Sheinman family, was quietly marketed earlier this year and comprises seven properties located close to the new Crossrail station at Farringdon. Evans Randall initially agreed a deal worth between £190m and £200m with the family in June. The properties, which are located on Clerkenwell Road, Berry Street, Great Sutton Street, Northburgh Street, Dallington Street and Goswell Road, offer 194,735 sq ft of space and produce an annual income of £8.8m. Lewis & Partners has been marketing the portfolio for in excess of £210m, which would reflect a yield of 4.08%.

Lambeth

EG reports that Lambeth Council has identified the BFI Imax site in Waterloo, SE1, as suitable for a tall building of up to 130 metres in height. The council included the cinema in a list of eight sites deemed suitable for tall buildings in its updated Lambeth Local Plan.

EG reports that ITV has cancelled plans to redevelop its 400,000 sq ft London Television Centre headquarters on the South Bank and intends to sell it instead. The broadcaster said it would now stay at its Holborn bases, where it occupies more than 220,000 sq ft, and studios at the BBC TV Centre in White City, where it occupies 27,000 sq ft. ITV has appointed Knight Frank to sell the London Television Centre site. In August, the broadcaster submitted plans to redevelop Television Centre into new studio and office space plus a 31-storey tower of 213 homes. It had intended to move back into it in four years’ time.

Tower Hamlet

EG reports Canary Wharf Group plans to invest £3.9bn into its new urban district in east London, Wood Wharf. CWG chief executive George Iacobescu said the proposed 3,600 flats at Wood Wharf would include “affordable and intermediate rent” and that the development, expected to be completed by 2023, would also feature around 40 shops. The scheme was approved by Tower Hamlets Council in 2014.

Wandsworth

EG reports Ballymore has put One Embassy Gardens, SW8, up for sale for around £160m through JLL and Savills. The 156,000 sq ft building sits in its Embassy Gardens residential development in Vauxhall. It has already pre-let 83,400 sq ft to Penguin Random House. Residential demand has softened in Vauxhall but the office market has been boosted by Apple taking 500,000 sq ft at Battersea Power Station.