GPE has bought the King Sloane Properties business from Belgravia & Chelsea Property Services, taking over the ownership of a trio of central London properties in a deal worth £70 million.
In a stock exchange announcement, GPE said the agreement meant it would now own the freehold interests to three separate assets owned by King Sloane, including 16-19 Soho Square, 29-43 Oxford Street and 7 Falconberg Mews, W1. The half-acre site has planning consent to demolish the existing buildings and deliver around 90,000 square feet of office and prime retail space.
The statement said the cash consideration is based on a property value of £70 million, or £772 per square foot on consented net internal area, and is "subject to further balance sheet adjustments". The consideration was met from GPE's existing undrawn facilities and cash, it added.
Totalilng 57,456 square feet of mixed-use buildings, the assets are multilet at circa £1.48 million per year, with vacant possession expected by March 2024. The half-acre site has planning consent to demolish the existing buildings and deliver around 90,000 square feet of new Grade A office and prime retail space.
The buildings are located in the heart of the West End at the eastern end of Oxford Street and back on to Soho Square, 100 metres from the new Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth ;ine station.
GPE has said it intends to re-work the designs to improve the quality of office and retail space, "increasing its attractiveness to prospective customers in a materially undersupplied market".
The redevelopment will provide a best-in-class headquarters office building on Soho Square, with flagship retail fronting Oxford Street, arranged over basement, lower ground, ground and eight upper floors. It will also have multiple private terraces and a communal roof terrace.
Alexa Baden-Powell, senior investment manager, said: "This acquisition represents a fantastic opportunity for us to develop a strategic West End freehold site into a best-in-class headquarters building with excellent sustainability credentials."