Columbia Threadneedle’s Balanced Commercial Property Trust is to sell its only office block in the City of London as it continues to reduce its exposure to the sector.
Allsop has been tasked with marketing 7 Birchin Lane, EC3, for offers of over £20m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.23% and a capital value of £882 per sq ft.
The building comprises 22,686 sq ft of grade-A office space and is let to 10 occupiers with an annual income of £1.3m. The WAULT is around 3.5 years to lease expiries and 2.9 years to the earliest determination.
BCPT’s 2023 annual report valued the eight-storey asset at between £10m and £20m. This was down on its 2019 valuation of £20m-£30m.
In its 2023 accounts it said a “phased programme of refurbishment” and a focus on improving its EPC rating to B “has proven highly successful as two of these refurbished suites have let over the period attracting premium rents”.
The asset is the latest disposal from BCPT, which offloaded three office assets in a move to reduce its exposure to the sector last month.
The sale included Diageo’s 42,000 sq ft Scotland headquarters at Nevis & Ness House in Edinburgh Park, a 25,000 sq ft Maersk training centre at Building 4 in Prime Four Business Park, Aberdeen, and a multi-let 15,000 sq ft building at 2-4 King Street, SW1. They achieved an aggregate sale price of £42.8m, which reflected a 0.3% discount against a valuation in September last year.
Image from Allsop
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