The Crown Estate completes Quadrant 3 development as it announces three major lettings (UK)

The Crown Estate has completed the mixed-use Quadrant 3 development as we begin handing space over to a list of high-profile retail, restaurant and office tenants, including a company co-founded by former US Vice President, Al Gore. The £300-million (approx. €350-million), 25,000-m² building is just off the southern end of Regent Street, adjacent to Piccadilly Circus.

Roger Bright, Chief Executive of The Crown Estate said: "Quadrant 3 is the latest development in our £1 billion Regent Street investment program and delivers a wholesale transformation to this prominent part of the West End.

"It is the largest and most ambitious scheme we have ever undertaken and as my time at the helm of The Crown Estate draws to a close, I can't think of a more fitting symbol of all we have achieved in Regent Street during the last decade."

The scheme's pioneering sustainable features have been key to attracting its first office tenant to its 18,600 m² of grade-A space. Generation Investment Management, the independent investment management firm dedicated to long-term, sustainable investing has signed a 15-year lease for the 1,980-m² top floor space.

Endorsing Quadrant 3, Al Gore, Chairman of Generation Investment Management said: "Generation is delighted to be The Crown Estate's anchor tenant in this exciting building. The AirW1 office space and associated public realm development showcases their ongoing and increasingly sophisticated commitment to sustainability. We are very pleased to be able to continue our partnership with The Crown Estate, whose emphasis on sustainability is fully aligned with our own values and investment philosophy."

The scheme has been awarded a BREEAM excellent rating. Decentralized energy production and energy efficiency measures significantly reduce carbon emissions. Two combined cooling heat and power units, photovoltaic cells and thermal stores provide 22% of the energy and head for the entire building. One of these units is the largest and most efficient fuel cell in Europe, reducing CO₂ by 40%.

Quadrant 3 also breathes new life into two 1930s Art Deco restaurants, which were once home to the pre-eminent Atlantic Bar and Grill and Titanic Restaurant; these are known for marketing as the Sherwood and Brewer restaurants. Timber veneer, gold leaf architraving, marble, brass, mirrors, ceilings, and even original wallpaper have been meticulously catalogued, removed and restored by expert artisan craftsmen, before being put back together again like a complex jigsaw.

Rex Restaurant Associates is to use the Sherwood restaurant to build on their success at The Wolseley and create a true embodiment of the Parisian Grand Café & Brasserie, within the historic setting one of Europe's finest Art Deco interiors.

Jeremy King, proprietor of The Wolseley said: "We look forward to working with The Crown Estate on this exciting project. The Sherwood Street site, with its restaurant and two bars, offers the perfect venue for an all-day brasserie / café and, under the paternal care and regeneration of The Crown Estate, the Regent Street area is fast regaining its prominence as a destination and meeting place."

Demand for the flagship retail space in Quadrant 3 has been exceptional with all of the 2,790 m² already let or under offer. Whole Foods Market plans to open a new 1,580 m² store at Quadrant 3 in spring 2012.

Jeff Turnas, Whole Foods Market's UK Regional President, said: "We are very excited that Whole Foods Market is the lead food retailer in such a prestigious development as Quadrant 3. We are relocating our successful Soho store into this fantastic new space that will allow us to expand our offer and introduce new concepts."

David Shaw, Head of the Regent Street Portfolio at The Crown Estate comments: "As we complete Quadrant 3, close to a quarter of the development is let or under offer. Our lettings to Generation, Rex Restaurants and Whole Foods Market capitalize on our transformation of the southern end of Regent Street which will soon be home to new stores for Burberry, Holl

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