A weekly round up of the latest property news from the central London boroughs

City of London

Property Week reports that Aviva Investors has pre-let City of London office building office building One Bow Churchyard to legal firm Shoosmiths for 15 years. Shoosmiths will occupy the entire 40,000 sq. ft of the building following its refurbishment.

Property Week reports M&G Prudential is funding the development of City office towers at 40 Leadenhall. M&G has secured a deal to buy 40 Leadenhall in the Square Mile to fund the development of a 905,000 sq. ft office complex in a £876 million investment. The site is being nicknamed “Gotham City” by the press consisting of two 14-storey and 34-storey towers. Construction is due to start early next, due to be completed by 2023. M&G chief investment officer Jack Daniels said: “40 Leadenhall is an opportunity to acquire a sizeable asset at attractive pricing with clear scope to create additional value through development.”

Islington

Property Week reports London developer and asset manager LBS Properties has launched its first fund and secured planning permission for its latest redevelopment project by Old Street roundabout. The fund, which LBS said had no target size, has made its first acquisition, the purchase of 107 Gray’s Inn Road, an office building in Bloomsbury, for £7.1 million. LBS managing director Nick Crawford said: “The new fund will continue to seek opportunities where we can seek opportunities where we can leverage our developments and asset management expertise to add value in a relatively short space of time by refurbishing and repositioning builds that benefit from good fundamentals.”

Property Week reports the two largest commercial auction houses have both released catalogues featuring 191 lots at its next auction on 23^rd October, 39 of them  guided at over £1 million. The auction house is offering a six-storey, mixed-use block in Blackfriars, central London.

Lambeth

Property Week reports that  Ocubis has changed its Vauxhall residential scheme at Albert Embankment to a 600-bedroom hotel instead. The application, which was submitted to Lambeth Councilon19th September, proposes the demolition of the Texaco petrol station and the erection of two 24-storey towers. Ocubis development director Stephen Chatfield said: “Current market conditions are such that we have sought tp bring forward an alternative to the residential consent that seeks to utilise the high-quality architecture from the previously consented residential scheme, but with a change of use to a hotel.”