LaSalle Investment Management has acquired the long leasehold interest of the headquarters of the Department of Energy and Climate Change for £80.6m.
LIM has purchased the 114-year lease of 3-8 Whitehall Place, SW1, from Aberdeen Asset Management’s Aberdeen Property Trust, off market on behalf of a retained client.
Estates Gazette tipped the block as a likely target for sale last week.
It is let to DECC until 2029, with a break in 2021, for a rent of £625,000 pa with an upward-only rent review scheduled for December 2016.
Originally constructed in 1951, the Grade-II listed office building was substantially refurbished in 2004 to add two floors and an atrium. It now covers 94,725 sq ft of office accommodation.
LIM director Nick Howitt said: “Whitehall has traditionally been a hub for the British government due to its proximity to the House of Commons, but the area is now starting to attract a broader set of occupiers. This is in part due to its position next to the popular commercial sub-markets of St James’s, Victoria and Covent Garden, but is also being driven by a number of redevelopments that are substantially improving the area for both office and alternative uses.”
LaSalle was advised by JLL and Aberdeen Asset Management was advised by Colliers International.
