US asset manager takes Square Mile property at a record rent for the year of £549 per m2
Nick Mathiason
Greycoat’s first City letting since its management buyout last month will set a new Square Mile benchmark rent.
The company, which is fighting moves by shareholder UK Active Value to extract increased value from the warranties it holds in the company, has let the final floor at 99 Gresham Street, EC2 at £549 per m2 (£51 per sq ft) to Sanford C Bernstein.
The figure, which excludes VAT, is this year’s highest rent and approaches last year’s record of £565 per m2 (£52.50 per sq ft) set by Donald Lufkin Jenrett on 111 Old Broad Street.
Greycoat’s Chris Strickland said: “I cannot confirm or deny the figure. If that’s the rent achieved, it’s a good figure.”
Sanford C Bernstein, the US asset manager represented by Jones Lang LaSalle, turned its back on the West End market after losing out on three deals there. Richard Ellis St Quintin and BH2 advised Greycoat.
In other City news, Liberty Life has instructed DTZ Debenham Thorpe to find 11,148m2 (120,000 sq ft) in the Square Mile.
Liberty Life is now the third South African financial institution to scour London for space this year following Minorco and Old Mutual.
Minorco let P&O’s City Square in St James’s, SW1 earlier this year while it is understood that Old Mutual is poised to satisfy its 8,361m2 (90,000 sq ft) requirement at Argent’s Alder Castle House in Aldersgate Street, EC1.
