Turkish investor Esas Holdings has put 124 Theobalds Road, WC1, up for sale with an £89m price tag, reflecting a net initial yield of 3.64%.
The firm has appointed Michael Elliott to find a buyer for the 1950s-built property which is currently leased to advertising agency MediaCom and Vodafone but also provides a redevelopment opportunity.
MediaCom occupies 71,781 sq ft on a rent of £41.60 per sq ft, while Vodafone leases 9,329 sq ft at £33.35 p sq ft. The current total income from the building is £3.3m per annum representing a passing rent of £40.65 per sq ft. However, both leases expire on 28 September 2022.
Buckley Gray Yeoman and Lichfields planning have come up with a scheme for the 81,110 sq ft nine-storey building to transform it into a 15-storey 262,165 sq ft office and residential scheme. This presents a 260% uplift in the net internal area with 156,620 sq ft of office space and 38,125 sq ft of residential space.
This scheme was presented at pre-app stage to Camden Council and the Greater London Authority and received a favourable initial response.
Alternatively, a 251,040 sq ft all office scheme with a net internal area of 186,000 sq ft has also been proposed. Given the buildings location it could also be redeveloped to provide a hotel or student accommodation.
Esas bought the property in 2016 from DTZ Investors for £65.75m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.04%.
At the end of August 14.4m sq ft of office space was under construction across central London of which 6.6m sq ft (45%) was already let or under offer, Michael Elliott has reported.
In 2019 investment volumes in Bloomsbury spiked, hitting a near-decade high of £852m, according to data from Knight Frank.
The area has also attracted new and notable investors this year including Singapore’s Sun Venture, which made its first UK investment in July with the purchase of 1 New Oxford Street, for £174m from Nuveen, on behalf of the Central London Office Fund and British Airways Pension Trustees.
124 Theobalds Road is the third Midtown property to go on the market in October with agent Michael Elliott. It is also selling Saffron House, EC1, on behalf of Columbia Threadneedle for £87.5m and 3 Dorset Rise, EC4, for just under £40m.
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