Developers are battling it out to buy the Clothworkers’ Company development site in the City of London.
Names linked to the development of 50 Fenchurch, EC3, include Almacantar, Axa Investment Managers, Great Portland Estates, Stanhope and Tishman Speyer. The site was put up for sale via Capital Real Estate Partners for around £120m after planning approval was granted in May for a 35-storey tower providing 645,834 sq ft of office space.
It is understood the five developers have submitted bids for the site, which will also require the development of a 50,000 sq ft Livery Hall for the Clothworkers’ Company.
The City has long been the biggest supplier of office space in London. According to recent data from Savills, a potential 15.7m sq ft of new and refurbished space could be delivered by the end of 2023, 27% of which is prelet.
Office take-up in the City has plummeted due to the impact of Covid-19 and is 46% down on the 10-year average, with just 2.2m sq ft leased over 2020, Savills said.
At the end of July there was around 8m sq ft of available supply, equating to a vacancy rate of 5.9%. Some 81% was Grade A standard.
Between the end of June and the end of August, the level of active requirement had risen by 2% to 5.57m sq ft.
Investment volumes across central London’s commercial property market are down by 46% on 2019 and 58% down on the five-year rolling average, with £4.4bn transacted by the end of the third quarter. In the third quarter, £1.3bn of commercial property was transacted in the capital.
However, Savills said reduced activity had not dented prime yields, which stand at 4% in the City and 3.75% in the West End.
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