Lord Sugar is hunting for a buyer for one of the most prominent buildings in his London property empire, as his real estate investments continue to struggle amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The businessman and reality TV star’s property company, Amsprop, has put the Lever Building in Clerkenwell, EC1, up for sale, with insiders hoping the deal will rake in more than £38.5m.
The five-storey office block, which is a converted Victorian tobacco warehouse, currently houses Tesco’s digital arm, which pays an average of £57 per sq ft across all floors and holds a lease until 2025.
Amsprop bought it for £31m in 2014. Before that, it was refurbished to provide its current 30,500 sq ft of grade-A office space. The current asking price would reflect a net initial yield of 4.24%.
The site is being offered to potential buyers after Amsprop received unsolicited approaches before Christmas, EG understands, and interest is thought to be strong from both institutional and international investors.
Sugar is a long-term investor in prime central London property through Amsprop, which has helped him amass a fortune of more than £1.2bn, according to The Sunday Times’ 2020 Rich List. The company owns sites including Gloucester House in Mayfair, W1, and The Crosspoint near Liverpool Street station, EC2.
However, he is looking to offload the Clerkenwell site months after saying his broader real estate portfolio is suffering because of office workers staying at home during the pandemic.
The billionaire told the Evening Standard in September: “As a landlord, we are suffering with our tenants struggling to justify the premises that they occupy.
“A lot of companies, big companies in the City, to be perfectly blunt about it, have found out that they don’t need these premises because they’ve been doing business with their employees sitting at home on their computers.”
Michael Elliott and CBRE are advising Amsprop.
Amsprop declined to comment.
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