This Week's London Deal Sheet
The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com.
Bank of Ireland has confirmed it is to relocate its London office to the last vacant floor in Gresham St Paul’s, with 19K SF of office accommodation in a new office building on Gresham Street.
Bank of Ireland is expected to relocate from its offices at Bow Bells House in the City of London in the second half of 2024, joining existing tenants including financial, investment and professional services firm Evelyn Partners and broker Numis Securities, building owners Stanhope and the Swiss AFIAA Investment Foundation said.
Gresham St Paul’s at 31-45 Gresham Street includes approximately 170K SF of prime office space over nine floors, with large terraces on the top three. Designed by WilkinsonEyre, it has a WiredScore Platinum rating, café, reception and business lounge, and 254 bike and locker spaces with changing and shower facilities. It is targeting a BREEAM Excellent sustainability rating.
Cushman & Wakefield and RX advised Stanhope and AFIAA, and Avison Young advised Bank of Ireland.
FINANCE
Investec Real Estate has provided Norton Group with an £80M financing package to fund the development of a distribution centre in Suffolk, which is 100% pre-let to retailer The Range.
The 1.2M SF, £200M scheme will serve as The Range’s main South East of England distribution hub and create around 1,650 new jobs. The development is targeting an EPC A rating and BREEAM Outstanding certification. Features will include solar photovoltaic panels, air source heat pumps, smart energy systems and 160 active electric vehicle charging spaces.
The development is located at Gateway 14, East Anglia’s newest and largest business, innovation and logistics park, 26 miles from Felixstowe Port.
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Tritax Big Box REIT has signed a £500M sustainability-linked unsecured revolving credit facility with a syndicate of its existing relationship banks and new lenders.
The new credit facility has an initial five-year term which may be extended to a maximum of seven years at the company's request, subject to lender consent. It also contains an additional uncommitted £200M option, and the finance is being used to refinance Tritax Big Box's existing £450M revolving credit facility, which was due to mature in December 2024.
The new credit facility will help to support the company's future investment and development activities and retains the same pricing as the existing one, with an opening margin of 120 bps, the company said.
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Specialist lender Cohort Capital has provided a £73M loan to a Qatar-based group for the refinancing of the five-star NoMad Hotel in London’s Covent Garden.
The 91-bedroom luxury boutique hotel was formerly the Bow Street Magistrates Court and Police Station, built in the 18th century.
The Grade II-listed building underwent a full refurbishment program from 2018 to 2020, converting the 170K SF building into a hotel, restaurant, museum and bar. The full development effort was led by Sydell Group.
The bespoke debt facility, provided by Cohort, was used to refinance a syndicate of banks whose loan term was approaching expiry. The business will continue to be operated by Sydell Group, which operates the U.S.-based NoMad and other branded hotels, under a management agreement.
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Grosvenor is working with partners to invest £1.3B across Mayfair and Belgravia over the next 10 years, with 14 major projects and 1M SF of redevelopment already underway, including South Molton, a 2-acre mixed-use £500M project partly being delivered in joint venture with Mitsui Fudosan.
LEASING
Asset manager Blue Owl Capital UK has taken the final floor at Grosvenor’s 65 Davies Street development in Mayfair prior to the project’s completion in November.
The 65K SF development’s remaining floor space has been taken by companies including Hayfin and SPX Capital for offices located directly above the Bond Street Elizabeth Line station next to Oxford Street.
Designed by PLP Architecture, the building features a green wall on the south façade, with the remainder of the building finished in terracotta, stone and bronze.
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The Crown Estate announced a number of new leisure-focussed lettings totalling more than 30K SF of retail and hospitality space. These include four flagship stores and six food and beverage outlets.
Spanish women’s fashion brand Bimba Y Lola, casual Italian clothing brand Paul & Shark, Jul’s Ibiza Restaurant and OshPaz, a Uzbek cuisine specialist, have all signed for space.
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BioMed Realty, a Blackstone portfolio company, and Babraham Research Campus have completed the lease of a 34K SF purpose-built, fully fitted wet laboratory building on the Babraham Research Campus ahead of scheduled completion.
The building is a joint venture partnership with BRC, which is responsible for the development and management of the campus on behalf of its shareholders, BBSRC-UKRI and the Babraham Institute.
Due for completion in February, this new building will grow BioMed Realty’s footprint at the campus in Cambridge to more than 130K SF across three buildings.
Insmed has agreed to take 17K SF and Xap Therapeutics has leased 10K SF. Both tenants will move from existing facilities within Babraham Research Campus. Mosaic Therapeutics will take the remaining 6.8K SF.
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Impact Hub London has agreed a deal with British Land to open a new workspace in partnership with London’s Knowledge Quarter at British Land’s Regent’s Place Campus, Warren Street. Impact Hub London Euston at Regent’s Place is expected to open its doors in April.
The new space is 10.6K SF and will include private offices, dedicated desks, flexible coworking spaces, meeting rooms and a large event space. This will be the Knowledge Quarter’s new headquarters, moving from the British Library.
