One of the big audit and consulting companies PricewaterhouseCoopers has signed a long term sublease agreement with one of the Moscow leading legal practices Norton Rose (Central Europe) LLP for 1,409 m² in a landmark office project White Square Office Center that was opened this autumn. Cushman & Wakefield was a leasing agent of the PricewaterhouseCoopers space. Norton Rose (Central Europe) LLP was represented by Knight Frank.
White Square Office Center is located in the Center of Moscow on Tverskaya Zastava square with 75,000 m² of office rentable space. It is one of the complexes with low vacancy rate and high quality tenants like PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey & Company, Deloitte & Touche, Microsoft, Coalco, Swedbank.
Mark Pollitt, Partner, Head of Office Agency, Cushman & Wakefield, commented that the sublease transaction between PricewaterhouseCoopers and Norton Rose (Central Europe) LLP proves that White Square Office Center is a premium location for international tenants.
The share of subleases on Moscow office market increased significantly at the end of 2008 and reached 120,000 m² which was about 5% of all the vacant premises. During 2009 this amount decreased by two times. Tenants active on the market are in a hurry to sublease business space in prime office buildings with low vacancy rate as the number of offers is reducing and no new ones are coming to the market. The main advantage of sublease in prime office building is to acquire the smaller blocks with fit out offered at reasonable rates.
Knight Frank was the exclusive agent of Norton Rose (Central Europe) LLP. Norton Rose selected the building and agreed a long-term sublease with PwC due to the attractive terms that were offered and the high quality of the base build and fit out.
Konstantin Losiukov, Director of Corporate Client Group, Knight Frank, told about the terms of sublease agreement with Norton Rose (Central Europe) LLP pointing out that it was a mutually beneficial deal for both sides. "Today's office market offers a lot of opportunities for tenants. We took advantage of the situation and agreed the most favorable terms and conditions of sublease for Norton Rose (Central Europe) LLP", said Konstantin.
Mark Pollitt, Partner, Head of Office Agency, Cushman & Wakefield, added: "Recent popularity of sublease is mostly explained by the possibility of long term agreements at competitive with direct lease rental rates."
Source: Knight Frank / Cushman & Wakefield
