Sainsbury’s has sealed a deal to move to a new London headquarters in Farringdon.
In October, EG revealed that the supermarket group was honing in on three floors in Helical and Ashby Capital’s JJ Mack Building, EC1, where it has now taken 68,002 sq ft across the first to third floors.
Sainsbury’s is expected relocate staff from its base at Tishman Speyer’s 33 Holborn, EC1, in the next two years, in favour of a reduced footprint in the 200,611 sq ft eco-friendly office adjacent to Farringdon station.
Asking rents in the JJ Mack Building, which offers 11 floors of EPC A office space, are above £80 per sq ft. The building is expected to achieve BREEAM Outstanding and a NABERS five-star ratings.
The deal takes the building to 58% let. Today Helical also confirmed a letting of 13,408 sq ft on the ninth floor to Macquarie-backed offshore wind developer Corio Generation, which EG revealed in October.
Other occupiers in the building include Partners Group, which took 37,880 sq ft on the sixth and seventh floors.
Sainsbury’s outbid Goldman Sachs for its current 320,000 sq ft headquarters, which was formerly occupied by Mirror Group Newspapers, at Holborn Place.
Since moving into the building in 2001 Sainsbury’s has sublet a significant portion of the space. It currently occupies 100,000 sq ft and has a supermarket on the ground floor.
The retail group has long debated a move away from Holborn Place and neared a prelet at Argent’s King’s Cross scheme in 2009.
Tishman Speyer bought the long leasehold of Holborn Place for its European Core Fund in April 2014 for £311m.
Cushman & Wakefield and Winckworth Sherwood acted for Sainsbury’s. Helical and Ashby Capital were advised by CBRE, Knight Frank and Clifford Chance.
To send feedback, e-mail chante.bohitige@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGPropertyNews
