Blackstone has prelet the whole of The Pepper Store at Devonshire Square, EC2, to global interconnection and data centre company Equinix.
The company has signed a 10-year lease to occupy all five levels of The Pepper Store, which comprises 29,500 sq ft of office space.
The firm will establish a new headquarter office at the self-contained building, which will provide a workplace for over 200 employees from this summer and provide additional space to expand.
Devonshire Square, located between Liverpool Street station and Spitalfields, is undergoing a major transformation, with a mixture of offices, bars, restaurants and shops set around a piazza-style courtyard.
The site is already home to the Devonshire Club, the new private members club owned by Brian Clivaz, featuring 68 bedrooms and suites, outdoor recreation space and high-end dining.
The Pepper Store is the first building to complete out of a cluster of 18th century, Grade II listed East India Company warehouses, totalling 630,000 sq ft of office space, which Blackstone is redesigning and reconfiguring to attract tech and creative occupiers.
Blackstone is now focusing on the redevelopment of the Spice Building which, once completed in late 2017, will bring a further 135,000 sq ft over 10 floors to the market.
Blackstone has already secured restaurants Pitt Cue and Mac & Wild. The site will also remain a host venue for events such as London Wine Week, London Restaurant Festival and London Fashion Week.
Ed Hodgson, director for Blackstone Property Management, said: “This relocation by a multinational company with the scale and reach of Equinix, represents further affirmation of London’s leading position as a global tech-hub and a highly desirable location for business within Europe.’
Tom Newton, senior director of real estate at Equinix said: “After an extensive search of the market we identified The Pepper Store in Devonshire Square as a building that offered the modern work place we wanted but in an interesting warehouse space.
Blackstone was advised by Knight Frank and GM Real Estate. Equinix was represented by JLL.
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