Blackstone seeks £130m High Holborn Estate sale

By James Buckley - Thursday, August 20, 2015

Blackstone has instructed Savills and CBRE to sell the 150,000 sq ft complex for a net initial yield of 4.5%.

The freehold island site comprises nine buildings making up the whole of a one acre site fronting High Holborn and Bedford Row.

Max bought the asset for £45.25m in October 2012 with the intention of carrying out a rolling refurbishment of the principal office buildings and to investigate converting the peripheral assets back to their original residential use. At the time the estate was let to over 60 tenants, produces a rent of around £2.2m per annum, equating to an average of just £15 per sq ft.

Since then, Blackstone has carried out an extensive refurbishment of the development. High Holborn House within the estate is largely tenanted with refurbishment having completed earlier this year. The offices, which have a ‘boutique’ feel, offer spaces from 3,000 to 8,000 sq ft. They have been designed with common areas, plus a roof terrace to attract potential occupiers to the rest of the building.

Also within the estate, Caroline House is aimed at attracting one occupier to the newly refurbished 14,000 sq ft of space. 

Two more of the nine properties are set to be ready in 2016 and 2017 and will be fully refurbished beforehand.