GPE commits to cluster building with Whittington House buy
Great Portland Estates has bought the 74,500 sq ft Whittington House, WC1, for £58.5m.
The firm has bought the SPV that owns the long leasehold interest in the property. The purchase price reflects a value of £785 per sq ft.
Whittington House is currently let on a short-term basis at an annual rent of around £5.2m, with vacant possession expected in Q1 2025.
Great Portland Estates has bought the 74,500 sq ft Whittington House, WC1, for £58.5m.
The firm has bought the SPV that owns the long leasehold interest in the property. The purchase price reflects a value of £785 per sq ft.
Whittington House is currently let on a short-term basis at an annual rent of around £5.2m, with vacant possession expected in Q1 2025.
The property sits next door to GPE’s existing holdings at 31/34 Alfred Place and opposite its recently acquired Courtyard, WC1, and is part of the firm’s strategy to cluster its portfolio to provide GPE customers with a choice of spaces and amenity in the location.
Last month the group bought the 20,000 sq ft 19-23 Well Street, W1, from British Land for £19m. That buildings is within walking distance of several of GPE’s other sites, including Wells & More, Elsley House, Kent House and 7-15 Gresse Street, adding to its cluster in Fitzrovia.
GPE said it planned to reposition the Richard Seifert & Partners-designed Whittington House in Q1 2027, coinciding with a “potentially historic level of undersupply” of space.
GPE senior investment manager Alexa Baden-Powell said: “Whittington House is our first HQ acquisition following our rights issue in May and meets all of our acquisition criteria. At a significant discount to replacement cost, the building has angles to exploit and our refurbishment will deliver high-quality, sustainable space into a market that is increasingly starved of such supply.
“Together with the recent purchase of 19/23 Wells Street, we have invested £77.5m into new West End acquisitions in the last month, or £110m including the capex we intend to invest in both buildings, and our pipeline of further opportunities remains strong.”
In October, GPE said it had £100m of deals under offer and a pipeline of £1.6bn of assets under active review or on its watchlist to buy.
GPE’s acquisition of Whittington House comes as it signs a new £150m ESG-linked revolving credit facility.
The new facility has been secured at a headline margin of 90 basis points over SONIA and has an initial three-year term which may be extended to a maximum of five years at GPE’s request, subject to bank consent.
Alongside GPE’s existing ESG-linked bank facilities, and the recently announced £250m sterling sustainable bond, the RCF extends the firm’s weighted average debt maturity to more than seven years.
Three banks participated in the facility. Two existing relationship banks – Lloyds and Bank of China – with the UK branch of CaixaBank SA become a new lender to GPE.
Chief financial and operating officer Nick Sanderson said: “Along with our recent rights issue and sustainable sterling bond, this facility provides further flexibility for us to capitalise on the exciting pipeline of opportunities that we are unearthing, accelerated by our recent acquisitions of Whittington House and 19/23 Wells Street.”
Image © Stuart Chapman Design
