Sompo, the Japanese global insurer, has completed its letting of 75,920 square feet of offices at the 40 Leadenhall tower in the City, as M&G's 910,000-square-foot office development nears full occupancy.
CoStar News revealed the talks in March for the space at the building dubbed Gotham City in part because its architects took "mid-century New York" as the template for its design.
Sompo has taken the space on the fifth and sixth floor and is relocating from 2 Minster Court which is also owned by M&G.
CoStar News revealed in March that M&G was in talks to lease almost all of the remaining circa 150,000 square feet at the tower, finalising a highly successful leasing campaign during a period when there has been much debate over the future of offices.
40 Leadenhall is a 910,000-square-foot office tower designed to be among the UK’s first to achieve the NABERS certification – an energy efficient standard that measures how a building is designed to operate and how it performs in use. It will also be the largest office development to complete in the City of London this year.
It includes a fitness studio, a 22,500-square-foot treatment and changing area, a wellness suite, library and a 30-seat cinema room. Employees will be able to use touchless technology to book spaces at the 200-seat auditorium, two restaurants, 17 outdoor green spaces and terraces and the communal 11th floor rooftop clubhouse.
The tower, alongside nearby recently developed peer 8 Bishopsgate, has leased up strongly despite market jitters around the strength of the office market since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Recent progress on major lettings in the City suggest a trend for major corporates to relocate to highly sustainable new buildings.
M&G Prudential bought the site in 2019 from AimCo and Nuveen Real Estate, through its central London offices platform.
Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield and Savills are joint agents.
CoStar News revealed in September that US law firm Kirkland & Ellis had taken up its option on another 170,000 square feet to complete one of the largest legal prelets in the capital.
The letting means the firm will occupy a total of 412,000 square feet stretching from the top 34th floor to the 15th floor.
CoStar News tipped the transaction would complete alongside a flurry of other lettings to take the building to 70%-plus preleased in August.
Other lettings include: 50,827 square feet, to Acrisure, advised by Newton Perkins, on a 20-year lease; Ark Insurance, the reinsurer based at 30 Fenchurch Avenue, which has taken 22,500 square feet; Shawbrook Bank, a challenger savings and lending bank, which has taken 37,000 square feet on level 10, advised by JLL; McGill & Partners, the reinsurance broker based at 100 Leadenhall Street, which has taken 43,000 square feet on a 16-year lease.