Argent shortlists five for King’s Cross office remit

  Hermes-owned Argent has shortlisted five firms for a 5m sq ft office letting instruction at its £2bn King’s Cross Central regeneration project.   CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, Drivers Jonas, DTZ and Savills have all made it through to the second round of interviews for the UK’s largest single office agency instruction.   The appointment – expected to be worth up to £20m of agency fees during the next 10 years – has been highly sought-after.   More than 12 agents submitted initial presentations before Christmas.   Jones Lang LaSalle, which had previously advised the landowners at King’s Cross, and Knight Frank, which last year lost its joint agency instruction at Canary Wharf, both failed to make the shortlist.   C&W, which brought supermarket giant Sainsbury’s to the 67-acre King’s Cross Central in October, has been appointed alongside JLL to sublet its 330,000 sq ft corporate HQ at 33 High Holborn, EC1.   Sainsbury’s will move to a 250,000 sq ft office at the development in 2011. darren.lazarus@egi.co.uk