GPE snaps up Soho Square Estate
Great Portland Estates (GPE) has acquired King Sloane Properties from Belgravia & Chelsea Property Services for £70m.
The cash consideration is based on the value of King Sloane Properties’ estate, with the group owning the freehold interests at 16/19 Soho Square, 29/43 Oxford Street and 7 Falconberg Mews, W1.
The buildings comprise 57,456 sq ft of mixed-use space and are currently let for around £1.48m per year. Planning consent to demolish the existing buildings and create around 90,000 sq ft of Grade A office and prime retail space has already been granted.
The estate sits in the heart of the West End at the eastern end of Oxford Street, backing onto Soho Square, and is just 100 metres from the new Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth Line Station.
GPE said it intends to re-work the buildings’ designs to improve the quality of both the office and retail space. It aims to enhance the site’s attractiveness to potential customers in a “materially undersupplied” market.
The group’s plans involve the creation of a “best-in-class” headquarters office building on Soho Square, along with flagship retail space fronting onto Oxford Street, arranged over basement, lower ground, ground and eight upper floors, with multiple private and one communal roof terraces.
Alexa Baden-Powell, senior investment manager at GPE, 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.”