Ivanhoé Cambridge Doubles Its Money On One Of London’s Weirdest-Looking Offices

Canadian real estate giant Ivanhoé Cambridge has sold one of the City of London’s most distinctive-looking office buildings for more than twice what it paid six years ago.

Suntec REIT has paid £353M for The Minster Building, a 293K SF office building in the insurance district of the City, the Singapore-listed company said this week. 

It is buying the building from Ivanhoé, the £35B real estate investment arm of pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Ivanhoé bought The Minster Building in 2015 in a complex transaction put together by investment manager FREO and in a joint venture with development manager Greycoat. At the time of acquisition, the ownership of the building was held in an effective 50/50 split between Santander and a fund managed by Hamburg-based Paribus Real Estate, FREO said on its website. 

Following a competitive process, FREO was selected by Santander to acquire its underlease interest. FREO simultaneously entered into an off-market exclusivity agreement with Paribus to acquire its head lease interest. In merging both legal interests, FREO was able to unlock single ownership for the first time in the building’s history. Both interests were ultimately acquired in February 2015 by Ivanhoé.

The building was built in 1991 as part of the wider three-building, 620K SF Minster Court scheme developed by the Prudential. It was designed by architect GMW Partnership in a style that has been described as “postmodern Gothic.”

“[It] created some raised eyebrows as it deviated significantly from the standard rectilinear office building formula well-established in the City,” e-architect said. “Although some other buildings such as No.1 Poultry, in the postmodern style, also differed from the norm, there was no tradition for neo-Gothic in the City in recent decades.”

The building's exterior was used in the live-action Disney version of 101 Dalmatians as the setting for Cruella de Vil's fashion house. 

The building was originally leased to the London Underwriting Centre, an offshoot of the Lloyds of London underwriting room, for 25 years, but became vacant in 2016. It was refurbished and re-leased in its entirety to tenants including engineering firm Atkins, energy and commodities trader Vitol, fund manager Bluecrest Capital Management and a UK government ministry.

This is the second recent acquisition for Suntec, which also paid £430M in October for a 50% stake in the Nova office scheme in Victoria.