The year-end at last saw a big deal in the West End core of Mayfair & St James’s.
Just before Christmas, EDS took an assignment of GlaxoSmithKline’s lease on the first and second floors, totalling 41,000 sq ft, of Lansdowne House, 57 Berkeley Square, W1, in the biggest deal in the area for the whole of 2003.
GlaxoSmithKline then Glaxo acquired the space along with other floors in the building in 1988, but had moved out by the end of 1997 following its merger with Wellcome. A subsequent merger with SmithKline Beecham saw it consolidate into a new 700,000 sq ft campus in Brentford, west London.
EDS and subsidiary AT Kearney already had a lease on part of the space at Lansdowne, but that was due to expire this September and EDS was considering a relocation within central London. Instead, it opted to take over the drug giant’s lease, which expires in 2013. The passing rent is around £62 per sq ft, but EDS received a large reverse premium from GSK, thought to equate to around two years’ rent.
Andrew Barnes, head of West End agency at DTZ, which advised GSK, said: “It’s a real boost to the market. Prior to this, the largest deal in the West End core in 2003 was 13,000 sq ft at 6 Chesterfield Gardens. This is perhaps an indicator that confidence in the West End market is continuing to return.”
DTZ will next month begin marketing the 21,500 sq ft third floor of Lansdowne House, which was recently vacated by Old Mutual.
EDS was advised by Vail Williams.
