Crown Estate acquires St James’s office-led scheme

Trafalgar House headlease purchased for £20m

Article posted: 22 May 2011

The Crown Estate has acquired the headlease of Trafalgar House, 11-12 Waterloo Place, SW1, for £20m. The headlease, which is being purchased from A&A Investment Group, has 68 years left to run.

The property sits at the corner of Waterloo Place and Charles II Street and totals around 36,000 sq ft over six floors. It is largely untenanted with the ground and first floors currently occupied by the Bank of Egypt. The Crown Estate plans to invest over £2m in the refurbishment of the vacant ground floor restaurant and second to fifth floors to provide new office space in St James’s, SW1.

Anthea Harries, St James’s portfolio manager at The Crown Estate, said: “We are delighted with this important transaction. The purchase of Trafalgar House and plans to invest in the refurbishment of the office and restaurant space demonstrates our continued commitment to investing in our core St James’s portfolio, and to promoting the area as a successful and distinct sector of the West End office market.”

In the last 18 months the Estate has made substantial progress in consolidating its position in St James’s, investing over £170m in new property including: three headleases from Land Securities at 70 Haymarket, 62-65 Haymarket and St Albans House; 10 Spring Gardens; two headlease interests in the Waterstone’s building at 203-206 Piccadilly and 77-79 Jermyn Street; Rex House, 10 Regent Street.

The acquisition forms part of a £500m St James’s investment programme, which will be guided by a series of strategies, published in April 2011, covering matters such as public realm, architecture, conservation and office, retail and residential space.

Knight Frank and Burgess Salmon advised The Crown Estate and BNP Paribas Real Estate advised A&A Investment Group.

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