Pearson looks to sublease its 250,000 sq ft West End HQ
Pearson is to sublease up to 250,000 sq ft at its current head office at 80 Strand, WC2, overlooking the River Thames.
The educational provider has appointed Knight Frank and JLL to find occupiers to take the space, which spans floors 5 to 10 at the 550,000 sq ft Shell Mex House (as well as space on the lower ground, ground and mezzanine floors), on subleases of up to 20 years at more than £55 per sq ft.
The property, which has some of the largest floorplates in the West End, at an average of 39,000 sq ft, is owned by the Conley family, which acquired the site via German family investment vehicle Sirosa in 2013 from Westbrook for £610m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.2%.
Pearson is to sublease up to 250,000 sq ft at its current head office at 80 Strand, WC2, overlooking the River Thames.
The educational provider has appointed Knight Frank and JLL to find occupiers to take the space, which spans floors 5 to 10 at the 550,000 sq ft Shell Mex House (as well as space on the lower ground, ground and mezzanine floors), on subleases of up to 20 years at more than £55 per sq ft.
The property, which has some of the largest floorplates in the West End, at an average of 39,000 sq ft, is owned by the Conley family, which acquired the site via German family investment vehicle Sirosa in 2013 from Westbrook for £610m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.2%.
At the time of the purchase, Pearson was the principal tenant and accounted for 60% of the £25m pa rent roll, occupying floors 6 to 10.
The other main tenant in the building is Shell, which occupies four floors.
The move to sublease its headquarters at 80 Strand is part of Pearson’s continuing restructuring programme, begun last year, to turn it into a leaner and more agile business. The plan includes reducing the company’s office locations to fewer than 100 by 2020.
This was also behind Pearson’s decision to sell the current headquarters of the Financial Times at 1 Southwark Bridge, SE1, which advertising and PR giant WWP is in talks to buy for £93m,
The FT, which Pearson sold in 2015 to Japanese media company Nikkei, is to relocate to the Obayashi Corporation’s Bracken House, EC4, next year.
Pearson declined to comment.
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