Weekly round up of the property news for the central London boroughs

City of London

EG reports that a pair of law firms are close to leasing space at the Aldgate Tower, which would bring the 317,000 sq ft speculative development close to fully let. Ince & Co is under offer to lease around 40,000 sq ft on the 14th and 15th floors. It has agreed to pay roughly £61 per/sq ft for the space. Law firm Reddie & Grosse is under offer for the `3th floor and has negotiated a rent in excess of £55 per/sq ft. Gm Real Estate and BNP Paraibas Real Estate are letting agents on the tower. CBRE acted for Ince & Co; Farebrother advised Reddie & Grosse.

EG reports that The Malaysian Employees Provident Fund has appointed agents to market the Fleet Street HQ of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Cushman & Wakefield has been instructed to find a buyer for the 230,000 sq ft 65 Fleet Street, seeking bids in the region of £170m – a circa 5% yield.

EG reports that Bank of London and the Middle East will occupy the fifth floor of the 400,000 sq ft Hines’ Cannon Place development. Quoted rents are £67.50 per/sq ft.

City of Westminster 

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.

Islington

EG reports that Helical Bar and Crosstree have appointed JLL to sell Empire House, EC1, part of their 320,000 sq ft Bower scheme, for £10m, equating to a 4% yield. The 26,178 sq ft building is fully let to Z Hotels and Peruvian restaurant Ceviceh. Z Hotels has a 35-year lease and Ceviche a 25-year lease. They pay a combined rent of £790,000 pa.

Kensington and Chelsea

EG reports that the Wellcome Trust has bought 13a Cranley Gardens from the London Diocesan Fund for £10.5m. It is reported that the six-storey residential building of four flats has potential for refurbishment. It extends to 16,600 sq ft.

Tower Hamlets

Second Home has struck a deal to double its presence in Spitafields. The company will occupy all of the 55,000 sq ft Britannia House, a 1960s warehouse at 68-60 Hanbury Street. It will pay rents of between mid £40/sq ft and £60/sq ft on different floors of the building. Paul Belchak & Co and Hatton Real Estate acted for the private landlord. Pilcher Hershman advised Second Home.

Wandsworth

Ballymore has revealed its plans for a flagship office building in its Embassy Garden development. The 215,000 sq ft is designed by Lee Polisano of PLP Architects.

CoStar News reports that the Battersea Power Station Development Company has confirmed the selection of Bouygues UK as the preferred contractor for the design and build contract for Phase 3 of the Battersea Power Station project.