Tenants quick to secure prestigious space at 55 St. James’s Street
Following the completion, in October 2015, Lothbury Property Trust’s 55 St. James’s Street building in St. James’s, London has secured a hat trick of lettings, taking the building to 75% let.
Following the acquisition of the building on behalf of the Lothbury Property Trust in 2011, Lothbury Investment Management has managed the comprehensive redevelopment of the building, which is prominently located within the prestigious St. James’s Conservation area close to Piccadilly and the Ritz Hotel.
Lothbury Investment Management secured two tenants during the course of construction, with Spirit Pub Company re-opening The Blue Posts Public House and Portland Gallery relocating from a nearby building to open a split level gallery on the corner of St. James’s Street and Bennet Street.
In terms of office lettings, private equity firm Vision Capital committed to the 5th floor, followed by PW Real Assets and Ferrexpo PLC who acquired the 4th and 3rd floors, respectively. All deals have achieved the quoted rent of £120.00 per sq ft.
There is now only one floor available in the building, with the first floor currently under offer. Four of the five residential apartments have also been let, achieving rents of up to £1,000 per week.
55 St. James’s Street comprises 23,089 sq ft (2,145 sq m) of Grade A office accommodation on seven floors with a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and five residential units. Floor plates provide a 4,693 sq ft typical floor, providing flexibility of layout as well as a reception and entrance area designed to attract a high calibre of tenant. The building features a high performance, simultaneous heating and cooling VRF system, fully accessible metal raised access floors and a 140mm typical raised floor void.
The new building is faced with Portland stone on two elevations to match similarly scaled buildings in St. James’s Street, with the rear of the building on Arlington Street faced in brick.
Simon Radford, chief executive at Lothbury Investment Management, said: “55 St. James’s Street has become one of the trophy investments within our portfolio and is a key holding for us. Lothbury has an active management strategy of adding to the value of our property portfolio by strategic reconstruction or refurbishment of key assets and this project is an integral part of our approach. We confidently expect 55 St. James’s Street to be fully occupied in the very near future.”
Craig Norton of Cushman & Wakefield commented: “All of these transactions have reinforced our belief that 55 St. James’s Street is perfectly placed for occupiers seeking the highest quality product – having a prestigious address, efficient column-free floor plates and the reception and finishes to match.”
Further details are at http://www.55sjs.co.uk.
Main contractor for the project was Galliford Try. Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE are the retained agents.
