Land Securities announced this morning that the Metropolitan Police Authority had leased the entire 442,000 sq ft (41,062 sq m) Empress State building in Earl’s Court, SW6.
The Met had been expected to take only 10 of the refurbished building’s 30 floors.
But, in the London police force’s first property deal under the estate strategy it unveiled in February, it has agreed to sign a 15-year lease on all the space.
As part of the arrangement the Met will pay a premium to surrender the lease on Wellington House, which is part of its Scotland Yard estate, to landlord LandSec.
Wellington House, 67-73 Buckingham Gate, SW1, includes the Met’s economic and specialist crime fraud squad.
The Met will use the Empress State building for a mixture of frontline and support staff.
The Met, which plans to grow to 35,000 officers in the next few years, does not plan to occupy the whole building for at least five years.
In the meantime, under its Landflex flexible lease package, LandSec will manage all sublettings.
The first sublet is three floors totalling 50,000 sq ft (4,645 sq m) to Transport for London, which will move to the site in September on a five-year lease as revealed by Estates Gazette, 1 May.
Matthew Punshon, Landflex director, said this morning: “The agreement with the Metropolitan Police Authority truly demonstrates the different and innovative solutions that Land Securities can provide through Landflex.
“The Group has had a long relationship with the Metropolitan Police and we are extremely pleased that, following our successful Landflex letting to them at Soho Square, we have been able to tailor further our products and services to provide a solution which fully meets their future operational objectives.”
Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker and Jones Lang LaSalle acted for Land Securities, with Ernst & Young acting for the MPS.
See this Saturday’s Estates Gazette for the full version.
References: EGi News 28/05/04
