WELPUT has completed an £86.5m off-market deal to buy its first office block in Fitzrovia.
Schroder Property-managed WELPUT has bought 101 New Cavendish Street, W1, from the Greycoat Central London Office Development Fund as it looks to tap into the area’s rising rents.
The price for the 101,000 sq ft West End property reflects a yield of around 5%.
The building, which is let to tenants including the University of Westminster and creative agency Dare, has low passing rents of £35.50 per sq ft.
However with a raft of lease breaks in the next three years, WELPUT will have options to revamp the asset to command rents over at least £50 per sq ft.
The area is undergoing a large mixed-use transformation with developers including Exemplar Properties wooing occupiers such as Estée Lauder to its buildings.
Nigel Kempner, head of Grafton Advisors, strategic property adviser to WELPUT said: “We have wanted something in the Noho market for quite a while. It is beginning to become much more attractive to a wide range of tenants and the building will provide opportunities for future remodelling and improvement.”
The deal comes in the same week that Tishman Speyer, advised by GVA, exchanged contracts to buy The Point in Paddington, W2, from WELPUT and Hermes Real Estate for £210m.
CBRE advised Greycoat; Allsop and Strutt & Parker acted for WELPUT in W1; DTZ and Strutt & Parker advised on The Point.
