Great Portland Estates plc (GPE) has acquired King Sloane Properties Limited, which owns the freehold interests at 16/19 Soho Square, 29/43 Oxford Street and 7 Falconberg Mews, W1, from Belgravia & Chelsea Property Services Limited. The cash consideration is based on a property value of €81.9m and is subject to further balance sheet adjustments. The consideration was met from GPE's existing undrawn facilities and cash. The c. 5,337.8m2 mixed-use buildings are currently multi-let with vacant possession expected by March 2024. The 2,023m2 site benefits from planning consent to demolish the existing buildings and deliver around c. 8,361m2 of new Grade A office and prime retail space.
The buildings are located in the heart of the West End at the eastern end of Oxford Street and back onto Soho Square, just 100 metres from the new Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth Line station. GPE intends to re-work the designs to improve the quality of office and retail space, further increasing its attractiveness to prospective customers in a materially undersupplied market. The redevelopment will provide a best-in-class HQ office building on Soho Square with flagship retail fronting Oxford Street, arranged over the basement, lower ground, ground and eight upper floors, with multiple private terraces and a communal roof terrace.
Alexa Baden-Powell, Senior Investment Manager, said: "This acquisition represents a fantastic opportunity for us to develop a strategic West End freehold site into a best-in-class headquarters building with excellent sustainability credentials."
