by Catherine Wheatley
Evergreen, the Taiwanese shipping to hotels conglomerate, has paid just under £20m for Unicorn House, the former Wellcome headquarters at 160 Euston Road, NW1.
The company will occupy most of the 8,050m2 (86,650 sq ft) building and lease out the remainder. Evergreen already has a UK office in St John Street, EC1, but the transaction is expected to signal the transfer of its entire European operation from Hamburg.
Market sources suggest that Evergreen has struck a keen deal. Wellcome spent over £20m on refurbishing the 14-storey block in 1990 and the quoting rent on the building – which was also being offered for lease – was £2.35m pa. The property has been vacant since the merger between Wellcome and Glaxo last year.
Evergreen is one of a growing number of occupiers choosing to buy rather than rent London headquarters. US conglomerate GenCorp is looking for up to 3,716m2 (40,000 sq ft) in the West End.
Richard Ellis advised Glaxo Wellcome, while D E & J Levy acted for Evergreen.
*Gazumping is back in central London. St Martin’s Property Corporation has let 9,940m2 (107,000 sq ft) 151 Gower Street, WC1, to University College Hospital, which competed with London & Continental Railways to acquire the building. The deal, on a six-year lease, is thought to have been agreed at about £685,000 pa. The building is part of a complex with frontage to Euston Road, which St Martin’s views as a medium-term redevelopment opportunity. Weatherall Green & Smith advised St Martin’s.
