British Land and Blackstone complete UBS pre-let at Broadgate
Development of the new 700,000 sq ft Broadgate office property in the City of London will now get under way, after British Land and Blackstone satisfied the remaining outstanding conditions on their pre-let agreement with UBS for the bank’s new HQ at 5 Broadgate.
The existing buildings at 4 & 6 Broadgate are being demolished and this part of the project will be completed in April, British Land says, with the new building to be constructed at 5 Broadgate “on schedule for Q4 2014”. The joint venture between British Land and Blackstone has already placed or tendered around 60% of the construction costs of the project, within budget and programme, the group added.
UBS is to lease the whole building for an average of 18.2 years to first break, at an initial rent of £54.50 per sq ft subject to annual increases in line with RPI (within an annual range of 0%-4%). The bank will receive a rent-free period of 18 months.
As part of the deal, UBS has also agreed to defer the exercise of lease break options of 755,000 sq ft of office space that the bank currently occupies in different buildings at Broadgate, until between 18 and 36 months after practical completion of the new building, so that it can be fitted out. The earliest date on which UBS can break the lease is towards the end of Q2 2016, British Land noted.
