HSBC is poised to sign one of the most prominent south coast office lettings this cycle.
The bank has entered advanced negotiations to take M&G Real Estate’s 70,000 sq ft Forum 1 on Solent business park.
Local agents said the deal at Whitely, just outside Southampton, would be the largest letting in the area since Carnival UK leased around 140,000 sq ft of space at Carnival House in 2006.
The leases on the bank’s two city centre offices end in June 2015. The offices were built in the 1970s and HSBC wants to move to more efficient premises.
Owing to the lack of suitable office space in central Southampton, the bank has had to look further out of town.
An HSBC spokesman said: “We are consulting with colleagues in Norwich and Frobisher House in Southampton about a proposal to move from our current location to a new building in the Solent area.”
Rents on Solent business park stood at around £15 per sq ft last year.
CBRE is advising HSBC; Knight Frank and Hughes Ellard are acting for M&G.
