Mercury Group’s Phillips de Pury has purchased one of Mayfair’s most sought-after buildings, 30 Berkeley Square, W1, for its new auction house.
The art company bought the long-leasehold interest from PRUPIM for the 52,000 sq ft refurbished building, for an undisclosed sum, understood to be just over £100m.
It plans to transform the basement, ground and first floors into an auction showroom that will mirror its one in Park Avenue in Manhattan.
It will lease out some of the above floors of the seven-storey building. Rent on the top floor is likely to reach £150 per sq ft – the highest in West End history.
The property attracted numerous bids from retailers and hedge funds looking to lease the space, including Brevan Howard and Russian sportswear retailer Bosco.
Pilcher Hershman advised the buyer and will let the office space; H2SO represented PRUPIM.
All parties declined to comment.
See this week’s Estates Gazette for more details.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
