A weekly round up of the latest planning and property news from the central London Boroughs

Camden

PW reports that Shaftesbury has signed up handmade loafer brand Duke & Dexter to open its first store, at 16 Earlham Street in London’s Seven Dials.

Kings Cross Central Limited Partnership (KCCLP) has appointed Cushman & Wakefield as valuation agents for its 67-acre development next to the famous London station. Kings Cross is the largest mixed-use, single-ownership development in Central London for 150 years and Cushman & Wakefield’s decade-long association with the scheme includes its ongoing role as joint office letting agents, as well as recent appointment as joint letting agent for the retail element.

City of London

PW reports that Asian Growth Properties has bought a City of London office building at 20 Moorgate from Deutsche Fonds Holding AG for £154m in its first UK deal. The office comprises of 154,854 sq ft of office accommodation and a retail unit over seven storeys. Annual rental income is estimated to be £7.5m and the acquisition represented a net initial yield of 4.4%.

PW reports that Pembroke Real Estate has let out the whole of its City of London office scheme, 4 Cannon Street, to Fidelity International more than two years ahead of the building’s completion. The investment management house will make the 106,000 sq ft seven-storey building its new London headquarters.

City of Westminster

EG reports that rates and rents prompt Bond Street exits. They note that crippling business rates rises and increasing rents are forcing luxury retailers to abandon their traditional heartland of Bond Street.

PW reports that the Canadian firm, Breather, that provides meeting space for companies to rent by the hour has revealed plans to open more than 100 workspaces in London by 2018. In the latest deal, it has taken two floors in Capital & Counties’ 42-43 Maiden Lane in Covent Garden.

PW reports that Capital & Counties has bought a Covent Garden freehold from Derwent London for £67.5 m. The 53,700 sq ft Tower House, 10  Southampton Street, WC2, occupies a corner block and produces an income of £3.1m pa.

PW reports that Thor Equities is close to agreeing a deal to acquire a prime London West End retail and office building from Columbia Threadneedle for £43m. The US-headquartered investment house under offer to buy 147-155 Wardour Street at a sub-3% yield, according to a source familiar with the sale.  The mixed-use property, located near the corner of Broadwick Street and close to Oxford Street, comprises 27,500 sq ft across lower, ground and five upper floors.

PW reports that the £370m sale of New Scotland Yard to Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) has now completed almost two years after the deal was agreed. The price was £120m more than the guide price and three times what was originally paid for the site in 2008. The deal completed on Monday night, paving the way for the redevelopment of the site into a mixed-use scheme, to be called The Broadway.

PW reports that the Birley Club has won approval to relocate Mayfair nightclub Annabel’s to a new home on Berkeley Square just two doors down from its current home at 44 Berkeley Square. The former office at 46 Berkeley Square will become a private members club and there will be alterations to a mews building at the rear of the property.

Tower Hamlets

PW reports that Online mortgage broker Hey Habito and business consultancy Twelve Fifty One Communications have taken a total of 4,750 sq ft in separate units on the first and second floors in the Loom Office Building in Whitechapel. Both tenants have agreed five year leases at £52.50/sq ft, a 17% increase compared to the estimated rental value in March this year.

Wandsworth

PW reports that London housing developer Pocket has started work on the tallest residential tower in Europe to be built using modular construction methods. The affordable housing scheme on Mapleton Crescent in Wandsworth has a development value of £39.8m, is comprised of 89 units, and rises to 26 storeys.