AshbyCapital and Montrose Land have taken aim at London’s growing life sciences sector, buying a 76,000 sq ft office building behind King’s Cross St Pancras, N1.
The site, at 105 Judd Street, will undergo a comprehensive overhaul after the joint venture acquired it from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which will remain in the building for the next two years.
AshbyCapital and Montrose, acting as part of a joint venture, will draw up proposals for the refurbishment to submit for planning consent. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The developers targeted the five-storey Edwardian building because of its location in London’s so-called Knowledge Quarter around King’s Cross.
The building currently provides around 57,000 sq ft of office space, but will offer up to 76,000 sq ft after the refurbishment.
The Wellcome Trust, UCL, Francis Crick Institute, British Library, Alan Turing Institute and British Medical Association all have premises in the area, while Google and Facebook’s UK headquarters are also nearby.
Jonathan Mantovani, director of Montrose Land, said the deal was “a rare opportunity for the creative re-use of a well-located asset in a thriving area, through substantial refurbishment”.
The area also benefits from three nearby mainline railway stations, providing direct links to Cambridge and other European cities, as well as six London Underground lines.
Peter Ferrari, chief executive of AshbyCapital, added: “We anticipate that the areas around major mainline train stations will become more popular following the pandemic, and expect the life sciences sector, for which collaboration is particularly vital, to become a growing component of London’s occupier mix.
“We are looking forward to combining our expertise with that of the developer team to create a world-class building that meets occupiers’ subtly changing needs.”
Corbett Northam represented the RNIB; Cushman & Wakefield and Knight Frank represented Montrose Land and AshbyCapital.
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