The Crown Estate has signed a lease agreement with Ares Management Ltd, the United Kingdom affiliate of US-based Ares Management LLC, for 2,800 m2 (30,000 ft2) of office space at 10 New Burlington Street within Regent Street's £250 million W4 redevelopment, which is being carried out by The Crown Estate and Exemplar.
Ares Management is the latest international business to move its UK offices to Regent Street.
This lease is illustrative of a surge in demand for office accommodation on Regent Street, where the £1 billion investment strategy being delivered by The Crown Estate since 2002 has been creating high quality, modern office space into a market that has been characterised by low supply and, in recent years, relatively weak demand.
In the last quarter, The Crown Estate has leased more than 8,400 m2 (90,000 ft2) of office space on Regent Street demonstrating the area's growing reputation as the destination of choice for global businesses.
Demand on Regent Street in 2013 is indicative of growth in the wider West End office occupier market. Take-up in the core West End in 2013 was almost 20 per cent higher than in 2012 and 2013 saw more deals done at over £100 per square foot than in the past four years combined.
David Shaw, Head of the Regent Street Portfolio said: "Our long term approach to investing in Regent Street has seen us develop new high-quality office space over the last ten years, putting us in a strong position to take advantage of the favourable supply and demand dynamics. Attracting world class businesses like Ares Management supports our view that Regent Street is an outstanding place for offices."
The 21st century regeneration of Regent Street has focused on transforming obsolete blocks to make them attractive to global occupiers in the office, retail and leisure sectors. Thus far, redevelopment projects have delivered more than 60,400 m2 (650,000 ft2) of modern office space on Regent Street and projects currently on site are set to deliver more than a further 18,600 m2 (200,000 ft2).
Source: The Crown Estate www.thecrownestate.co.uk 13. January 2014