UBS signs Broadgate deal
UBS HAS ended months of negotiations by signing off on a deal with property group British Land and private equity firm Blackstone to construct a towering new building to house its investment bankers on the Broadgate Estate.
The deal comes after the parties said in May that they had agreed in principle to knock down two of UBS’ existing headquarters buildings at 4 and 6 Broadgate in order to make way for the new block. Construction on the new building is set to be completed within four years, though it will not be ready for the Swiss bank to move in until 2015-16. The block, which will provide over 700,000 sq ft of space, will be the City of London’s largest single office building.
The deal is worth about £600m for British Land and Blackstone, which snapped up half of the estate last year for just £77m as central London property prices hit a trough.