LaSalle Investment Management has undertaken a partnership with Trilogy Property Advisers to acquire East India Dock in London, United Kingdom, from Criterion for £170m (€241m) through a Jersey Property Unit Trust (JPUT). The JPUT will be managed by LaSalle and Trilogy.
Built in 1993, East India Dock is a 593,233 ft² (55,111 m²) office campus with retail and leisure amenities and 471 car parking spaces, situated on a prominent 6.4-acre island site in the London Docklands. It comprises four office buildings with a maximum height of nine storeys, varying in size from 64,513 to 218,306 ft² (5,993 to m²).
Whilst existing plans for the site included a comprehensive redevelopment for residential use, LaSalle and Trilogy will refurbish and reposition East India Dock as a viable alternative for occupiers priced out of traditional office locations. High quality office space will be provided at competitive rental values from £30/ft² (€360/m²). LaSalle and Trilogy have not ruled out the inclusion of residential within the site’s overall mix.
East India Dock is well-connected with the public transportation network, with a three-minute walk to East India DLR station, offering connections to the city in under 15 minutes and the West End in around 20 minutes. East India Dock will also benefit from the introduction of Crossrail to the Docklands in 2018, which will create a more mobile workforce across London.
Chris Lewis, head of transaction support, LaSalle Investment Management, said: “East India Dock is an exceptional opportunity to create a vibrant new business quarter in a well-connected part of London. It is in the heart of an area undergoing a significant transformation with new residential developments and the impending introduction of Crossrail drawing people to the neighbourhood. We want to provide a viable alternative for occupiers priced out of more traditional business locations and previously affordable hubs, such as Shoreditch. We are pleased to be working with the experienced team at Trilogy to deliver this vision.”
Robert Wolstenholme, managing director, Trilogy Property Advisers, said: "This property provides a great platform for Trilogy to apply the experience gained with creative office developments in Soho, Shoreditch and Whitechapel to deliver a new East London quarter for creative talent. The eastward migration of the creative and digital sectors, like the English National Ballet's move to London City Island or the Here East scheme at the Olympic park, is reinventing areas like Stratford and Canning Town. We're talking to some top creative, cultural and tech occupiers, who would be catalysts for the emergence of a new hub for next-generation talent at East India Dock."
East India Dock is multi-let to a variety of office tenants with a passing rent of around £20/ft² (€306/m²) and a weighted average unexpired lease term of under three years.
LaSalle was advised by Allsop and Hall Kemp; Criterion by Savills and Michael Elliot.
