Related News:
Tower 42 Owners Take London Skyscraper Off the Market on Increasing Rents
Tower 42, the tallest completed building in London’s main financial district, was taken off the market by its owners, who cited rising rents in the area.
Funds managed by BlackRock Inc., Hermes Real Estate and LaSalle Investment Management dropped their plan to sell the City of London’s first skyscraper though they received a “significant” number of bids, according to an e-mailed statement today.
The decision allows the group to move forward on “a number of initiatives across the estate,” the statement said. “These include significant development potential and leasing opportunities, at a time when rents in the City market are clearly on an upward trend.”
The 600-foot (185-meter) office building was put up for sale in April for more than 300 million pounds ($466 million) as the owners sought to benefit from a rebound in prime real estate values. City offices have risen 28 percent since June last year, according to Investment Property Databank Ltd. July’s gain of 1.5 percent was the lowest since October.
The tower, which has 324,000 square feet (30,000 square meters) of space, and the five other office buildings on the Old Broad Street site near the Bank of England are 93 percent occupied, the investor group said.
The skyscraper was initially known as the NatWest Tower when it was the headquarters of National Westminster Bank Plc. The lender was taken over by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in 2000.
Tower 42 will shortly be overtaken as the highest occupied building in the financial district by the Heron Tower, which will be 755 feet tall when completed with 443,000 square feet of offices on 36 floors.
To contact the reporter on for this story: Peter Woodifield at pwoodifield@bloomberg.net.
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page