Joseph Lau’s Chinese Estates has emerged as the frontrunner to buy the freehold of Zara’s new shop on Oxford Street, W1, for £183m – a 2.5% yield.
CBRE was instructed to market 61 Oxford Street last year on behalf of BA Pension Fund.
It would be the second purchase in less than a month for Chinese Estates, which recently acquired the Mayfair headquarters of private bank Kleinwort Benson at 14 St George Street, W1, for £121.7m.
The six-storey Allford Hall Monaghan Morris-designed block on the corner of Oxford Street and Soho Street was bought by BA Pension Fund in 2009 for £18m and developed in partnership with Richard Leslie’s Dukelease Properties.
It includes a 35,000 sq ft flagship Zara store, 14,000 sq ft of offices as well as six flats, branded as 11 Soho Street.
The eastern end of Oxford Street has seen a wave of investment ahead of the opening of the Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station in 2018.
Last year, Land Securities and Frogmore’s Oriana scheme, located opposite the new Zara at 26-48 Oxford Street, and anchored by a 149,000 sq ft Primark, was bought by Zara owner Amancio Ortega for £450m.
Lau’s deals mark the return of Chinese Estates to the London market following a five-year hiatus. It purchased Goldman Sachs’ London headquarters at River Court, 120 Fleet Street, EC4, for £300m in 2011.
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