Brookfield Properties has completed the letting of the top floor of its One Leadenhall development at £160 per square foot, in what is understood to be the highest office rent ever paid in the City of London.
CoStar News revealed that Brookfield had fully leased the development, a 35‑storey tower in the City of London, following a 90,000-square-foot transaction with cryptocurrency group Ripple in January.
Market sources close to the transaction told CoStar News that Brookfield has now finalised the letting at a stepped rent with £160 per square foot paid on the top floor, Level 32. The floor comprises 4,200 square feet of offices as well as a large roof terrace.
The building is one of the largest offices built in the past few years and Brookfield has said in the past it has set new benchmark rents that reflect the continued demand for top‑tier workspace. It has not disclosed the rent paid.
One Leadenhall was fully committed ahead of opening, placing it in a small group of London towers to reach completion in recent times with little remaining availability. Brookfield has said that reinforces the "bifurcation of the capital’s office market and sustained interest in long-term prime assets".
Designed by Make Architects, the 430,000-square-foot tower is beside the historic Leadenhall Market and has large, flexible floorplates, landscaped upper-level terraces and a publicly accessible viewing terrace on level four. The building replaces the 1980s Leadenhall Court.
The anchor tenant is global law firm Latham & Watkins, which has taken almost 300,000 square foot in one of the largest legal sector moves in the Square Mile in recent years. An existing Brookfield Properties tenant, the firm will increase its London footprint by more than 50% when it relocates from 99 Bishopsgate in the second half of 2026.
Digital asset company Ripple has taken 90,000 square feet at the top of the building from floors 24 upwards. The Work Project has opened its first UK offering in the tower, providing 30,000 square feet of premium flexible workspace across levels 22 and 23.
Ripple is one of the oldest crypto companies, launching in 2012. It employs blockchain to enable global financial institutions, businesses, governments and developers to move, manage and tokenise value. In the UK it is based at 10 Queen Street Place in the City.
Newmark and Cushman & Wakefield advise at One Leadenhall.
Last year, Mitsubishi Estates and Stanhope signed Proskauer Rose for additional space at their 8 Bishopsgate tower at what was a record for the City of London at the time.
The law firm signed for the 8,000-square-foot 46th floor at around £147 per square foot, significantly ahead of the previous record agreed in the City of £122 per square foot by Banco Master, the Brazilian investment bank, for the top floor of AXA IM Alts' 22 Bishopsgate, the City's tallest tower. Banco Master did not move into the space.
According to Knight Frank's latest London office report tightening supply has led to a sharp repricing of London’s best buildings with a record 170 deals completed last year at rents above £100 per square foot. Prime rents in the West End Core lifted 15.6% to a record £185 per square foot. Likewise, prime rents in the City Core reached £102.50 per square foot, a 7.9% annual increase.
To avoid being priced out or shut out of an undersupplied market, large occupiers are securing space years ahead of lease events, Knight Frank says. Between now and 2030, up to 50 million square foot of London office leases are set to expire, it predicts, intensifying competition in submarkets such as Marylebone, Soho and the City Core, all of which have less than 15 months of supply remaining.