Plans for the construction of new London offices may have to be shelved due to nervous bank lenders and the dismissal of loan requests.
Earlier blueprints for development were postponed at the start of the recession in the hope that projects would be kick-started once the economy improved. However, lenders are wary of the potential risks and unwilling to speculate about the reported upsurge in property interest. (more…)
West End and City office space landlord Derwent London has reported a sharp pick-up in business this week.
The firm, who owns office property in the City and West End areas of London, announced a 9.8% rise in the value of its property portfolio over the last half of 2009. The figures partly offset the 12.3% drop in the first half of 2009, which left the portfolio down 3.3% for the whole of 2009. Derwent had previously reported losses of £34.9 million for 2009, which was an improvement on the £606.5 million in 2008. Property values in 2008 had also dropped by 22.1%. (more…)
A portfolio of eight London office buildings is to be put up for sale by CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.
The buildings belong to entrepreneur Simon Halabi, and are being sold to repay investors part of the £1.15 billion in defaulted bonds which back the buildings. (more…)
Pinsent Masons, a US law firm, have finished their search for a City of London office.
The firm will move in to offices at 30 Crown Place in 2011. The new office will be Pinsent Masons’ largest international office, comprising of around 197,000 sq ft in total at the sixteen storey building near Liverpool Street. (more…)
US investment bank JP Morgan is considering leaving their European headquarters in Canary Wharf in favour of other premises in the City of London area.
This will be a harsh blow for Canary Wharf’s hopes to be the main financial district of London. JP Morgan are currently reviewing plans for its headquarters and the consolidation of all staff and buildings into one development, which may be in City rather than Canary Wharf. (more…)
Reports this week show that city commercial occupiers are ready to sign on over 250,000 sq ft of office space. This is yet another signal of the strong start to the year London’s office space market has had.
Markit, a financial services firm are currently agreeing terms on British Land’s Ropemaker, a 586,000 sq ft EC2 site. They are set to sign a lease on 80,000 sq ft of the premises, with an option to extend to an extra 20,000 at a later date. (more…)
Stenham property fund has been paid £40.7 million for a distinctive London commercial property.
Aegon Asset Management completed the purchase of 52 Grosvenor Gardens, which was originally part of the Duke of Westminster’s property group Grosvenor Estates. 52 Grosvenor Gardens is in London’s Victoria area and houses 93,000 sq ft of space.
Stenham acquired the building for £25 million from Grosvenor Estates nine months ago. Grosvenor Estates have reported huge losses in the past year, the worst for 16 years, which forced the sale of the building to Stenham in the first place. (more…)
Planning applications for the £200 million redevelopment of part of Regent Street have been submitted by The Crown Estate. Two blocks on the west side of Regent Street, between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, known as W4 and W5 (south) will create around 300,000 sq ft of office and retail space.
The Crown Estate took ownership of the two blocks after an exchange in properties in 2007. They took the blocks from Pollen Estates in exchange for four blocks in Savile Road. (more…)
Law firm Taylor Wessing is reported to have spent around £31 million on moving to new City premises in the last financial year. Details of the firms accounts also show a £20 million bank loan to help cover the cost of the move and renovations in the new building.
The details were filed within the limited liability partnership accounts for 2008-2009. The premises, in New Street Square, have been occupied by the firm since November 2008. The move to the new premises cost a total of £31.2 million – accounts show £17.2 million covered the cost of improvements, while £14 million was spent on office equipment and furniture. (more…)
According to a report published today, London has topped a survey as the most popular city for commercial property investment in Europe.
The report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute shows the highest increase in new acquisitions in the commercial market in the city in comparison to other European cities. (more…)