Ad agency Abbott Mead Vickers has put 151 Marylebone Road, NW1, under offer after a search which has lasted for more than three years.
Abbott is believed to be taking an assignment of Grand Met’s lease on the building, where the current rent is just over £538 per sq m (£50 per sq ft).
A spokesman for Grand Met said: “We are in advanced negotiations with a potential occupier but at this stage we cannot confirm their identity.” The food and drinks conglomerate’s subsidiary IDV had occupied the distinctive 4,646 sq m (50,008 sq ft) office building on a 25-year lease from June 1990.
The building had been on the market since July 1995, when Grand Met relocated to ING’s 8,918 sq m (96,000 sq ft) Henrietta House. The quoting rent was £1.65m pa.
Abbott’s decison has taken agents by surprise: it was widely expected that IT training company The Learning Tree was about to sign up for the building. The ad agency currently has offices at 191 Old Marylebone Road.
Joint agent for Grand Met with Conrad Ritblat is Smith Melzack. Edward Charles & Partners represented Abbot Mead Vickers.
EGi News 11/07/97
