In a lettings update, central London office owner and developer Great Portland Estates has announced it has broken its leasing record for the financial year to March 2022 – with almost two months to go.
The group said that it had signed 460,900 sq ft of new lettings since the start of the financial year (1 April 2021), generating a combined annual rent of £32.5m (GPE share: £26.4m), surpassing its previous record leasing high of £31.8m in 2016 with two months of the financial year still remaining.
The lettings were 9.8% ahead of the independently valued estimated rental values (ERV) for the space at 31 March 2021.
The group said it has a further 94,500 sq ft of space under offer for a combined rent of £6.2m, 3.6% ahead of September 2021 ERV.
Since 1 October 2021, the company has agreed 17 new lettings across 102,100 sq ft, generating an annual rent of £5.5m (GPE share: £4.6m). Of the 17 leases that completed, four were for Flex spaces with the most recent fully fitted and fully managed leases at Pollen House, W1 achieving a rent of £210 per sq ft. The largest transaction in the period was at Hanover Square, W1, where the final office at Medici Courtyard (8,900 sq ft) was let to KKR.
In the update, the company said it had also progressed development at 50 Finsbury Square, EC2 and remains on track to deliver the building to its pre-let tenant Inmarsat later this year. It has also advanced preparations for the development of 2 Aldermanbury Square, EC2 and anticipates commencing demolition of the existing building in the coming months.
Toby Courtauld, chief executive, said: “It is a significant achievement to deliver record leasing in a period marked by such economic and social disruption, which is a testament to both the quality of the spaces we have been delivering and the dedication and hard work of the GPE team. Absent a resurgence of the pandemic, our confidence is building for the remainder of 2022, as we expect the combination of economic growth, a return to normal trading conditions and central London’s magnetic appeal to be positive for our markets.”
GPOR : Great Portland Estates break record leasing year