Quartermile secures Edinburgh’s biggest pre-let in over ten years to €70.5 mln building (UK)

Edinburgh-based sports entertainment business FanDuel is continuing its expansion by relocating its UK head office to a new £50 mln (approx. €70.5 mln) seven-storey office building at the city centre’s Quartermile development.
Totalling 58,567 ft² (approx. 5,400 m²) the Grade A office accommodation comprises the top three floors of the 128,600 ft² (approx. 12,000 m²) Quartermile 4 building. FanDuel is the first to sign on the new offices and has agreed a 15-year lease, with a ten-year break clause. According to Quartermile’s property agents, CBRE, the deal is Edinburgh’s largest pre-let in over ten years.
FanDuel currently employs almost 300 staff split between the UK and US. The deal will see the company’s Edinburgh based staff move from its existing accommodation within the Quartermile 1 office building. FanDuel’s new offices will have capacity to accommodate around 500 people.
Construction of Quartermile 4 is well underway and is due to be completed in April 2016. It is being built as a result of an £80 mln (approx. €112.8 mln) funding deal secured by Quartermile with M&G Real Estate last June to speculatively develop the remaining two office buildings at the development.
Quartermile 4 will be the first new office building to be finished in Edinburgh city centre out of those currently being constructed. FanDuel will occupy its new office from 2016.
FanDuel was advised on the deal by property agents Eric Young & Co and law firm Lindsays. Quartermile was represented by joint agents CBRE and Montagu Evans with legal advice provided by Brodies.
Quartermile 4 and the final office building, Quartermile 3, will ultimately provide Grade A office space for over 2,000 people and will complete the office component at the development. Companies locating to Quartermile will be alongside other existing high profile occupiers including flight search business Skyscanner, Investec and IBM.
Quartermile is expected to be completed in 2018. Once concluded, the development will provide Edinburgh with 1,050 apartments of which 531 are already occupied and another 274 currently being built, 370,000 ft² (approx. 34,000 m²) of Grade A office accommodation, 65,000 ft² (approx. 6,000 m²) of retail and leisure space and seven acres of open landscaping.
Source: Quartermile