Apple To Lease 3 More Office Floors In London’s 22 Bishopsgate
UNITED KINGDOM – Apple has struck a deal to increase the amount of office space it intends to lease at 22 Bishopsgate. Consequently, the massive office tower is nearly fully occupied and is edging closer to become the most expensive office property in London’s history, reported Bisnow Media on Wednesday (10 November, SGT).
Notably, the tech giant is already occupying 2 office floors at the 1.3 million sq ft project and it has signed an agreement to lease 3 additional office floors collectively measuring 75,000 sq ft, pushing its overall workspace there to nearly 125,000 sq ft.
Aside from that, American investment bank William Blair has agreed to lease 66,000 sq ft of space there. In total, at least 850,000 sq ft of the office space in 22 Bishopsgate has been leased, representing about 66 percent of the overall commercial space in the office building, which will also come with 150,000 sq ft of amenities.
Real estate consultancy Savills revealed that monthly office rents in 22 Bishopsgate is roughly £70 to £75 psf. This means once it is fully leased, it would generate a minimum of £80 million in rent. Capitalised at a yield of 4 percent, the level at which the top-notch buildings in the City of London are changing hands for, would translate to a capital value of at least £2 billion.
At present, the 687,000 sq ft Walkie Talkie building is the record holder for the priciest London office building, when it was picked by Hong Kong investor Lee Kum Kee in 2017 for £1.3 billion.
The leasing success of 22 Bishopsgate and its stellar valuation vindicates the owners – Canadian fund PSP, AXA Investment Managers, and Singaporean fund Temasek.
They acquired the development site and started building in 2015 after construction of the building was basically stalled for 8 years. The project, which is estimated to cost £1.3 billion to complete on a speculative basis, was finished after the Brexit vote and bleak forecasts on the outlook of London’s office market.
