Central London estate organisation secured a £70m deal

Great Portland has obtained King Sloane Properties Limited, owners of the freehold interests at Soho Square, Oxford Street and Falconberg Mews.

The London-based company have bought the estate from Belgravia & Chelsea Property Services Limited. The cash consideration is based on a property value of £70m – £772 per square foot – and is subject to further balance sheet adjustments.

However, although Great Portland paid £70m, the sum is subject to further balance sheet adjustments.

The estate is comprised of 57,456 sq ft of mixed-use buildings which are currently multi-let at around £1.48 million per annum with vacant possession expected by March 2024. The buildings are located in the heart of the West End at the eastern end of Oxford Street and back onto Soho Square.

Spanning half an acre, the site benefits from planning consent to demolish the existing buildings and deliver around 90,000 sq ft of new Grade A office and prime retail space.

Despite this, the company plans 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.

According to the company, the new redevelopment will ‘provide a best-in-class HQ office building on Soho Square with flagship retail fronting Oxford Street, arranged over basement, lower ground, ground and eight upper floors, with multiple private terraces and a communal roof terrace.’

Alexa Baden-Powell, senior investment manager at Great Portland also commented. She 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.’

Image: Alex Tai