Feldberg Capital has bought 21-25 Bedford Street, London WC2, for approximately £75 million from BlackRock, for its ReForm Fund.
ReForm is a brown-to-green workplace fund, investing in energy inefficient offices and using Feldberg’s ESG capability to retrofit and reposition the assets into modern green workplaces. The fund targets assets in central London’s growth locations underpinned by good connectivity and amenity, such as Covent Garden, Soho, Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury.
21-25 Bedford Street is 100 metres from Covent Garden Piazza and its restaurants, bars, retail and theatres. It is close to Covent Garden and Leicester Square underground stations, while Tottenham Court Road station is 750 metres away.
The 75,000-square-foot building has a Tesco Express on the first floor with office tenants including Associated British Ports and Plural Strategy Group.
ESG upgrade measures will include the removal of gas boilers, installation or air-source and water-source heat pumps, and installation of on-site solar panels. Feldberg will also create an asset-specific charity partnership chosen based on the results of a needs assessment of the local area.
ReForm is one of the first UK real estate funds to link a proportion of the manager’s performance fees to pre-determined ESG targets.
Feldberg launched it in October 2023. Its first acquisition in December 2023 was 8 Bloomsbury Street, a 33,448-square-foot building located close to Tottenham Court Road station, which is undergoing a retrofit.
ReForm received backing from a cornerstone UK institutional investor in October 2023, followed by a second close in December 2023. The fund has a fundraising target of £300 million, which will provide firepower of around £500 million including leverage.
Robert Allen-Mersh, director at Feldberg, said in a statement: “This acquisition continues to support our thesis that we are seeing a once-in-a-cycle opportunity to invest in Central London’s best commercial real estate assets at very attractive values. 21-25 Bedford Street is a very high-quality mixed-use building in the heart of Covent Garden with exciting asset management upside.”
Will Amies, head of business development at Feldberg, added: “21-25 Bedford Street marks ReForm’s second transaction following the impact fund’s acquisition of 8 Bloomsbury Street late last year. We achieved first close on ReForm in October 2023 and subsequently quickly reached second close in December 2023.
"Our ability to fundraise in the current climate is testament to the belief investors have in our ability to deploy capital quickly into good buildings at very attractive pricing.”
TT&G advised BlackRock.