GPE is in talks to buy 141 Wardour Street, a vacated prime development site in the heart of London's Soho, from Orchard Street Investment Management, CoStar News understands.
The central London listed office developer and investor is understood to be out in front in talks to pay around £40 million for the offices with restaurant space at ground level, which are being sold by RX London on behalf of Orchard.
The specialist commercial property investment manager bought the mixed-use asset in 2018 on behalf of St James’s Place UK.
The 1931-built freehold was redeveloped behind a retained facade in 2001, providing approximately 34,000 square feet of office and retail across six floors. At the time it was fully let to two tenants with Moving Picture Company, the film production studio, occupying the entirety of the offices and Princi, an Italian restaurant and bakery part-owned by Starbucks, operating across the ground and basement floors.
Orchard gained consent for a redevelopment of the vacated building to include terraces at fourth to sixth floors last year.
The original building was designed by the architect James JS Naylor and was occupied by Warner Brothers as one of a cluster of film industry companies along Wardour Street.
GPE and RX London declined to comment.
GPE is one of London's most prolific developers and has been buoyed recently by strong leasing. In a trading update on 12 April the group said it had set a new leasing record for the business with £55.5 million of lettings signed over the full year to end of March, and 3.3% ahead of the March 2022 estimated rental value.
Toby Courtauld, chief executive, said at the time that the group continued to see sustained demand for its high quality spaces, particularly for its fitted and fully managed products.
He added: "We anticipate that the uncertain outlook in the near term will exacerbate the shortage of new deliveries in central London, supporting rents for the best spaces and, given our low levels of leverage, present opportunities in the investment market to add to our development pipeline and expand our fitted and fully managed offers."