City of Westminster News – 17/09/2015
Co Star News reported on Monday that The Royal College of Surgeons has launched a search for a development partner to help assess it options for the future of its 310,000 sq ft Lincoln’s Inn HQ. The RCS owns the building at 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields but only occupies part of it so wants to bring on board a developer to help extract maximum value from the site.
Co Star News reports that the leasehold interest in 22 Bruton Street has been bought by a private client of Nightingale Partners for in excess of £7m. The property is let to a number of office tenants with a prime retail unit trading as Maison Margiela on the ground floor.
PW reports that Hiugo Boss is set to more than double the size of its existing store on Regent’s Street by moving to a new 15,000 sq ft site at 178-180 Regent Street.
PW reports that Derwent London has instructed agents to sell around £136m worth of West End property across two buildings. JLL and CBRE have been appointed to sell the Davidson Building and Tower House in Covent Garden. The Davidson Building, at 5 Southampton Street was built in 2003 and provides 41,700 sq ft of office space. It is said to be on the market for around £64, at a yield of 4%. Tower House, which is a multi-let 52,800 sq ft office, is at 10 Southampton Street. It is on the market for £71.7m at a yield of 3.75%.
PW reports than VanHan has sold its 29 Charles Street office for £9.2m, which equates to a record price of £3,918/sq ft for commercial property on the street, making it one of the most expensive buildings in Mayfair. The building has been bought by a Spanish family office called Anpora Immuebles.
Co Star News reported that Angelo Gordon has sold the vacant 6-7 Grosvenor Place office block in the West End to the Zaman Group for £61m.The Zaman Group, comprised of high net worth individuals from Oman, approached Angelo Gordon off market, persuading the private equity firm to sell less than a year after acquiring the vacant 36,000 sq ft block for £39.46m last December – crystallising a £21.54m profit in 10 months, less costs.
Angelo Gordon completed internal strip out of the building, defining the net lettable area, as well as advancing the formal planning application for a change of use for the property.
The building is held leasehold for a term of 137 years from 29 September 1952.