A weekly round up of the latest property news from the central London boroughs
City of London
EG reports that WeWork has teamed up with Denmark’s biggest pension fund, PFA Ejendomme, and TH Real Estate to buy the Devonshire Square estate from Blackstone for around £580m.
EG reports that TH Real Estate and Allianz have partnered to provide £100m in debt finance towards Partners Group development of 80 Fenchurch Street, EC3. The financing has been structured as a £135m development loan with a £20m increase on completion. Arranged by TH Real Estate, it has been underwritten by Allianz and TH Real Estate for £50m (32%) each.
City of Westminster
PW reports that a private Asian investor has sold a prime office and residential building on Upper Grosvenor Street at a record £2,250/sq ft capital value. The current office occupier, investment firm The Capital Partnership, has bought the long-leasehold interest in 11 Upper Grosvenor Street for £18.65m
EG reports that an Indian hotel developer has bought the 77,359 sq ft office and retail building at 5 Strand, WC2, from BlackRock UK Property Fund, for more than £90m – a 12.5% uplift. Savills advised the buyer. C&W and Tudor Toone represented BlackRock.
EG reports that Native Land has agreed a £45.8m development loan with NatWest for Regent House. The three-year loan will finance the replacement of the 1960s building with a mixed-use scheme including 43,000 sq ft of offices over six floors, 24 flats and ground floor shops. The funding with NatWest’s structured real estate finance team comprises a £22.3m residential development loan and a £23.5m speculative commercial loan for the office space.
Hackney
EG reports that Cain International has secured a £390m development loan for The Stage, its £750m mixed-use project in Shoreditch. Co-ordinated by lead arranger Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, which is also providing £97.5m of the debt, the loan includes £97.5m of funding from Investec and £97.5m from Harel. The remainder is being provided by Bank of East Asia and the London branch of Chinese lender Bank of Communications.
Tower Hamlets
PW reports that Newsweek Media Group has appointed McCalmont-Woods to market its 25 Canada Square office space in Canary Wharf. The publisher of Newsweek occupies 13,000 sq ft on the 24th floor of the Citigroup tower on a lease running until 2021. It signed the six year sublease with Citi for £39.50/sq ft in 2015, after doubling its staff to 160 employees.