City & West End Developments is making a return to London’s prime St James’s market, SW1.
Patrick Despard’s company has been chosen by fund manager Hermes Real Estate to develop an 80,000 sq ft landmark speculatively at one of Europe’s premier addresses.
The site is a rectangular block on the north-east corner of St James’s Square, just a stone’s throw from Cleveland House, which Despard developed in the last cycle. That building, on the west of the square, almost broke the £100 per sq ft rental barrier in 2000.
Despard, who has historically been a good caller of the market, said: “St James’s is an area City & West End is very familiar with and so we are delighted to be given the opportunity to deliver such a significant development.”
Hermes’ plans, first revealed by EG a year ago (28 May 2005, p29), are about to be submitted to Westminster. Construction is scheduled to start next year, when all leases fall in, and be completed in 2009.
A 70,000 sq ft state-of-the-art office will replace 8 St James’s Square and 7 Apple Tree Yard, which total 55,000 sq ft. This will be linked to the 10,000 sq ft Lutyens-designed, Grade II listed 7 St James’s Square, which will be refurbished.
Tim Turnbull, director of commercial real estate at Hermes, said: “We hope to capitalise on the West End’s projected strong performance over the next five years.”
Hermes was advised by Jones Lang LaSalle and City & West End by GVA Saxon Law. Both agents are retained to let the building. The architect is Eric Parry.
● Hermes’ 117 Jermyn Street, SW1, is now fully let. A total of 25,000 sq ft has been let to oil engineering company Petrofax, PVM Oil and financial services firm IAF Securities, all on 10-year leases at around £45 per sq ft. Conway Relf acted for IAF and Tuckerman for Petrofax; Teacher Marks and DTZ advised Hermes.
