Great Portland Estates and Knotel, the flexible workspace provider, have agreed a flexible office partnership arrangement across 82,000 sq ft at City Place House in the City of London EC2.
Knotel will operate the space until the building’s redevelopment in December 2021 and together the two companies will share the revenue generated by the businesses in occupation.
Constructive discussions are ongoing with the City of London Corporation ahead of a major planning application which GPE is expected to submit during the first half of 2020, with an expected start on site in early 2022.
The existing building comprises 176,600 sq ft of offices over lower ground, ground and eight upper floors. It is held long leasehold from the City of London and existing occupiers include Legal & General, Accenture and PensionBee. Approximately 11,000 sq ft of office space remains available.
Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive at Great Portland Estates commented: "We are delighted to partner with Knotel, further expanding the Group’s flexible space offering which now comprises around 9% of our office portfolio. The new arrangement will maximise our short-term cash flows ahead of our exciting plans for a substantial new-build development on the site."
Tom Dugarin, UK General Manager at Knotel added: "As Knotel expands rapidly, it is critical that we partner with owners such as Great Portland Estates. The team at GPE have a deep-seated understanding of the London property market and how a flexible offering can be valuable for established and scaling businesses. The GPE team has a significant footprint; this partnership will help ensure that we meet the growing demand for Knotel’s tailored, flexible workspaces. Knotel is the world’s leading flexible workspace provider and has 360,000 sq ft of flexible office provision under management in London, across 22 buildings and 67 spaces."