Great Portland Estates secures W1 offices pre-let
Great Portland Estates has announced the pre-letting of all the offices portion of its refurbishment scheme at 160 Great Portland Street, W1 to Double Negative, a company that specialises in visual effects for the film industry.
GPE says it will start work on the property this month, and has scheduled completion for May 2012. Telewest UK Ltd recently vacated the building after paying GPE £30m (its leases had been due to expire in 2018: the payment was equal to 6.3 years rent of the 7.5-year period then remaining).
Double Negative is to take a 20-year lease on the office space, which spans the basement and ground to fifth floors, totalling 86,535 sq ft, and will pay £4,785,000 per annum after an initial 29-month rent free period and a capital contribution by GPE of £1,015,000. The initial rent equates to £59.60 per sq. ft. on the first to fifth floors of the building and there is a minimum uplift at the first rent review, GPE notes.
As part of the deal, GPE will also accept a surrender of Double Negative’s existing leases at 45 Mortimer Street, W1, a 108,550 sq ft prime redevelopment completed in January 2009. The company occupies 21,818 sq ft, paying £861,812 per annum (£39.50 per sq ft) after a rent-free period ending in September 2011, on a lease until October 2019, with a tenants break in October 2014.
The surrender will take effect once Double Negative has moved to 160 Great Portland Street, which GPE expects to be in November next year. GPE says the December 2010 rental value of the 45 Mortimer Street space is £1,254,500 per annum (£57.50 per sq ft).
Neil Thompson, portfolio director of GPE said; “We are delighted to be able to create a new bespoke headquarters for Double Negative, which meets their specific requirements and will allow them to consolidate into one building, which will assist in their exciting growth plans. 160 Great Portland Street is part of GPE’s 1.9m sq ft development programme, timed to coincide with a shortage of good-quality space in central London over the next few years”.
