Landsec, the major UK real estate investment trust, is reviewing second-round bids this week for a significant development opportunity on Tottenham Court Road in London's West End.
CBRE is understood to have been quietly marketing the freehold interest in the 0.7-acre site at 6-17 Tottenham Court Road seeking around £60 million.
The property comprises 62,139 square feet of retail and restaurant accommodation with a 66m frontage to Tottenham Court Road. It is fully let to seven tenants at a passing rent of £3,572,528 a year, reflecting £57.49 per square feet with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 1.2 years.
Investors will be likely most interested in the opportunity to reposition the property and increase massing by 65%, subject to planning consents. The building sits a short walk from Derwent London's successful major redevelopment above Tottenham Court Road station One Oxford Street on the back of the arrival of the Elizabeth Line. As a major landowner in Tottenham Court Road, Derwent London is expected to be an interested party.
Landsec has been pressing on with a strategy to sell around £4 billion of mature assets including London offices and assets in sectors it sees as non-core, such as retail parks and leisure, and reinvesting in growth opportunities.
In its half-year results published this month, the REIT reported that after three years implementing its 2020 strategy it has sold £2.5 billion of mostly largely, single-let City and Docklands offices and invested £1.9 billion in profitable development, retail and mixed-use urban schemes.
The period only saw £85 million of smaller, non-core disposals but chief executive Mark Allan promised the pace would pick up now as it "resumes the focus on subscale" including retail parks, hotels and leisure parks.