Great Portland Estates (LSE:GPOR) PLC has acquired King Sloane Properties Limited, owner of 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 £70 million (£772 per square foot) and is subject to further balance sheet adjustments.
Great Portland paid for the acquisition through existing undrawn facilities and cash.
The 57,456 sq ft mixed-use buildings are currently multi-let at around £1.48 million per annum with vacant possession expected by March 2024.
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.
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.
Great Portland 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.
According to Great Portland’s press release, the 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, commented: "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."