Private equity firm Carlyle Group is close to striking the largest Mayfair and St James leasing deal in years with a prelet at the £500m St James’s Market, SW1.
Carlyle will take just over 60,000 sq ft of office space at a rent of close to £100 per sq ft on a long-lease of more than 10 years at the Crown Estate’s and Oxford Properties’ flagship Regent Street development
The deal will be the first letting of the scheme’s 200,000 sq ft of office space.
By floorspace it is the largest leasing deal for several years in the Mayfair & St James submarket, and the largest in the West End this year. Negotiations are ongoing, however, with King Digital Entertainment for 65,000 sq ft at Resolution Property’s Ampersand building on Wardour Street, W1.
Washington-headquartered Carlyle Group currently occupies around 30,000 sq ft of space at Lansdowne House, 57 Berkeley Square, W1.
The 186,578 sq ft block has been earmarked for redevelopment in 2018, prompting Carlyle to seek new long-term offices.
The St James’s Market scheme, at 14-20 Regent Street and 52-56 Haymarket, also includes 45,000 sq ft of shops alongside residential elements and public realm improvements. St James’s Market is to be completed by 2016, and will deliver 340,000 sq ft of mixed-use space in total.
Cushman & Wakefield and Knight Frank are leasing agents on the scheme.
