Aviva brings Canadian pension fund in on Hoxton office portfolio
Aviva Investors has brought Canadian pension fund PSP Investments in as a partner on a campus of office buildings at Hoxton Square, Shoreditch, N1.
The portfolio of four office buildings contains 55,974 sq ft of lettable office space, and marks the fifth investment that the two companies have made together since 2015.
Floor plates on the sites range from 1,105 sq ft to 5,276 sq ft. All of them have been refurbished, while two-thirds of the space has been revamped to retain original facades. Three of the assets sit directly on Hoxton Square with the fourth located on Old Street.
Aviva Investors has brought Canadian pension fund PSP Investments in as a partner on a campus of office buildings at Hoxton Square, Shoreditch, N1.
The portfolio of four office buildings contains 55,974 sq ft of lettable office space, and marks the fifth investment that the two companies have made together since 2015.
Floor plates on the sites range from 1,105 sq ft to 5,276 sq ft. All of them have been refurbished, while two-thirds of the space has been revamped to retain original facades. Three of the assets sit directly on Hoxton Square with the fourth located on Old Street.
Six years ago, Aviva and PSP kicked off their partnership when the insurer brought the Canadian company in on a portfolio of 14 commercial properties across central London to form a jv.
Then, in 2019, they announced the intention to invest up to £250m in commercial property across the CB1 Estate of Cambridge, a master-planned sustainable, mixed-use development spanning 26 acres in the Station Road area of the city.
Last year, they extended their relationship into continental Europe by acquiring Galleri K, a mixed-use retail, leisure and office asset located in the centre of Copenhagen’s retail district.
Daniel HcHugh, chief investment officer for real assets at Aviva Investors, said: “Our partnership with PSP Investments continues to go from strength to strength and we are delighted to expand the relationship further into an exciting and dynamic subset of the London market.
“London continues to represent the richest market of workers employed in knowledge-intensive sectors, with the tech cluster being of significant scale and importance in the global market.”
However, Aviva’s growing presence in Hoxton has sparked fears of gentrification in recent years, with local office rents having risen dramatically in the time the insurer has owned holdings in the area.
When planning applications for the buildings’ refurbishments went in three years ago, a spokesperson for the Hackney Society told local newspaper the Hackney Gazette: “The men in grey suits are wanting a bit of the hipster pie. The fear is of a corporate insurance HQ in a small-scale historic industrial district.”
Stéphane Jalbert, managing director for real estate investments in Europe and Asia Pacific at PSP Investments, said the area’s draw was as “one of the most creative hubs in London, as well as an important centre of technology, which we believe will outperform in the long term”.
To send feedback, e-mail alex.daniel@eg.co.uk or tweet @alexmdaniel or @EGPropertyNews
Photo: Richard Gardner/Shutterstock
