13th Dec 2005 07:01
Great Portland Estates PLC13 December 2005 Great Portland secures major West End letting at Met Building 13 December 2005 Great Portland Estates plc ("GPE"), the specialist central London propertycompany, has agreed to lease 51,350 sq ft of office and retail space to PublicisSA subsidiary Zenith Optimedia Limited ("Zenith") at the recently completed MetBuilding, Percy Street, London W1. Zenith will pay a total of £2,020,000 p.a. equating to an average office rent of£41.90 per sq ft, on five separate leases for a period of fifteen years with anoption to break at the tenth year. They will receive an initial rent free periodof at least thirteen months, and a cash contribution towards fitting out costsof £1.5 million. If the tenth year break clause is exercised, Zenith will pay apenalty equivalent to 6 months rent. The 111,000 sq ft building is now 92% let by rental value at rents of between£41.50 and £55.00 per sq ft within seven months of construction completion. TheZenith transaction follows lettings to Natwest Bank, HSBC, Gardiner & Theobald,SwitchCo and GML International and only two tower floors totaling 9,050 sq ftare still being marketed to let. GPE acquired the property with the neighbouring 28 Percy Street in June 2003 for£16.0 million and secured a planning consent for the building's redevelopment inAugust 2003. 28 Percy Street was sold earlier this year for £1.4m. Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive of GPE said "This letting secures a prestigioustenant for this quality West End development and we are delighted to welcomeZenith to the building." "Met Building is the first of ten major refurbishment and development schemesthat GPE will be delivering into the under supplied West End and South Bankmarkets over the next three years and, like Met Building, all of our projectsare designed to provide good quality, flexible space at competitive rents". Contacts:Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive Great Portland Estates plc 020 7612 1442Neil Thompson, Head of Development Great Portland Estates plc 020 7612 1429 Edward Orlebar Finsbury 020 7251 3801 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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