GPE puts 160 Old Street up for sale at £180m
Great Portland Estates has put its recently completed redevelopment, 160 Old Street, EC1, on the market for offers in excess of £180m, representing a yield of 4.5%.
It is the latest in a string of sales by the REIT this year that has included properties from its Fitzrovia portfolio; 55 Wells Street, W1; and 160 Great Portland Street, W1.
GPE chief executive Toby Courtauld said in May that the business would continue to be a net seller for another two years, potentially raking in £455m from assets GPE considered to be long-dated and at the end of the period during which additional value could be extracted.
Great Portland Estates has put its recently completed redevelopment, 160 Old Street, EC1, on the market for offers in excess of £180m, representing a yield of 4.5%.
It is the latest in a string of sales by the REIT this year that has included properties from its Fitzrovia portfolio; 55 Wells Street, W1; and 160 Great Portland Street, W1.
GPE chief executive Toby Courtauld said in May that the business would continue to be a net seller for another two years, potentially raking in £455m from assets GPE considered to be long-dated and at the end of the period during which additional value could be extracted.
He added that it was unlikely the firm would make any acquisitions in the near term, but instead had committed to three new schemes within its development pipeline. These include 76 Oxford Street, which is currently being demolished; its joint venture with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, known as Hanover Square, following a prelet to International investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co Partners, and its 1.1-acre site in Whitechapel, E1.
The three schemes have a combined development value of £744m.
BNP Paribas Real Estate is understood to have been appointed to find a buyer for 160 Old Street, a 166,000 sq ft freehold property, which features outdoor space on every floor equivalent to the size of four tennis courts. It also has 6,676 sq ft of restaurants and retail space at street level.
The 11-storey building (pictured) is majority-let to global media firm Turner Broadcasting, part of Warner Media, which operates brands including CNN, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and TCM.
Turner is moving from its Soho home on Great Marlborough Street to fill up its 116,500 sq ft new London headquarters at 160 Old Street early next year. The move also includes London-based staff of HBO and HBO Europe and Time Warner currently based at Great Marlborough Street.
Other tenants at the building, which has an average weighted unexpired lease term of 13.6 years to breaks and 14 years to expiries, includes Pusher and Bosch, which are to occupy the fifth and sixth floors respectively. It has an overall rent of £52 per sq ft.
GPE acquired the site, which a former Royal Mail office, in 2013 through its joint venture with BP Pension Fund, the Great Ropemaker Partnership, and completed its Orms-designed redevelopment of the 1970s building in April this year.
GPE declined to comment.
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