Global bank HSBC has finalised a deal to take circa 63,000 square feet across two buildings at Scotland's Maxim Park, the circa 760,000-square-foot business park north of Motherwell.
CoStar News understands that HSBC will occupy 32,204 square feet at Maxim 4, a building which has been vacant since it completed in 2009, and 28,521 square feet across the ground and first floors at Maxim 10, previously wholly occupied by telecommunications firm Sitel UK.
The bank will occupy the ground and first floors of both buildings, occupying around half of each, with rents at the buildings quoted at £17.50 per square foot and £15.50 per square foot respectively.
CoStar data indicates that HSBC has a 140,000-square-foot call centre 15 minutes' drive from Maxim Park in Blantyre at 4 Technology Avenue. It moved to the offices in 2017, when it closed its call centre in Edinburgh. Its latest move to Maxim Park would represent a significant reduction in its office footprint, by around 55%.
CoStar News understands that the former call centre in Blantyre has been put onto the market via CBRE as a development opportunity.
The move will be welcome news to the park's owner, Shelborn Asset Management, with CoStar data indicating that around half of the accommodation at the campus was unoccupied prior to the bank's deal. Other tenants at the park include contractor Balfour Beatty and pensions giant Aviva.
London-based investor Shelborn bought Maxim Park as part of a £38 million portfolio deal in October 2018, comprising 10 Grade A offices. The deal reflected a net yield of 8.64%, with the group buying the properties from Cerberus Capital Management.
The complex, sitting between Glasgow and Edinburgh, was built by developer Tritax, after it acquired the former Chunghwa Picture Tubes factory in a 2003 deal.
Ahead of its construction, leaders at Maxim had hoped that the £330 million workplace scheme, reported to be the largest in construction in the UK at the time, would lease up quickly. But Scottish MPs were calling for a rethink of the campus 10 years later as two-thirds of the park lay empty.
One of the reasons for the scheme's slow start was the timing of its opening in the midst of the global financial crisis, while its rural location was another factor blamed for a lack of leasing activity with tenants preferring city centre locations.
Scottish MPs have previously suggested the campus could accommodate health care or higher education providers, as well as housing due to its proximity to shops, restaurants and the M8 motorway.
MC2 and Knight Frank represented the landlord.