Aviva Investors has bought the Stylus building at 112-116 Old Street, EC1, for £25m from Coastview Estates.
The recently redeveloped office building, behind the retained façade of a former Victorian gramophone factory, uses no fossil fuels. Instead hot water and heating are provided by air source heat pump technology. Solar photovoltaic panels contribute to its electricity needs.
The building provides more than 26,694 sq ft of office space over six floors and features a private outdoor courtyard and roof terrace spaces.
It is currently leased to four tenants, including Freeda Media, Greenshill Capital, Jigsaw Advisory and Kheiron Medical Technologies, providing a gross rent of just under £1.7m per year, which equates to £62.70 per sq ft. The weighted average unexpired lease term is 3.99 years to expiries.
The freehold of the building is owned by The Drapers’ Company, according to Radius Data Exchange, and the 137-year long leasehold sold by Coastview Estates to Aviva has 134 years left.
Records for Coastview Estates on Companies House lists Mark Pears, David Pears and Sir Trevor Pears among its directors.
Daniel McHugh, managing director, real estate, at Aviva Investors, said: “Stylus is a great example of how office space can be delivered in a low carbon way making use of a heritage building with a retained façade, zero fossil fuels and outstanding energy efficiency.
“Despite the size of London’s office market there is a significant under-supply of grade-A office space such as that offered by Stylus, particularly in the Tech City sub-market centred around Old Street roundabout. We believe that, together, these characteristics add to the building’s appeal and should make it particularly resilient over the long-term.”
Colliers International advised Coastview Estates on the sale.
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