Thursday 9 September 2010
LSH delivers simultaneous acquisition and pre-let of office space in Southampton
Using its detailed knowledge of the Southampton office market, Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH’s) Office Agency team agreed the simultaneous acquisition and pre-let of 13,300 sq ft of office space. The building is currently undergoing comprehensive refurbishment works which are being managed by LSH’s Building Consultancy division. As a result, developers CCI have been able to create a low risk, high yielding investment.Client:
CCIProject background:
- At the start of 2008 LSH’s Southampton-based Office Agency team identified a dilapidated office building on the outskirts of Southampton available for sale. The building, Charter Court, comprised 13,300 sq ft of low grade office space over three floors, with 0.3 acres of expansion space and 100 parking car spaces.
- LSH acknowledged a requirement from Swatch Group, one of the world’s largest watch makes, for a new base in Hampshire. However, Charter Court was disregarded due to the extensive works which would need to be complete by the end of Q3 2008 to fulfil Swatch’s need to move at this time.
- Recognising that if the building were to be refurbished then it would be ideal, LSH introduced the freehold building to local developer, CCI, and brokered a meeting between CCI and Swatch to ascertain the detailed requirements.
- It was agreed that Swatch would take a pre-let of the property from September 2008.
Client benefits:
- LSH’s Building Consultancy team was instructed to determine whether the works could be delivered in the five month period, advising that a single specialist fit-out contractor, appointed on a ‘design and build’ basis was the best available option.
- Morgan Lovell was then brought in as the contractor to fulfill the works, with LSH overseeing the project to ensure practical completion by September 2008.
- Alongside discussions with Swatch, LSH agreed terms to acquire the building for CCI and agreed that the purchase would be simultaneous with the pre-let agreement. Within six weeks of instructing solicitors, the purchase and agreement to lease were exchanged and works started on site.
- In a challenging economic climate, LSH has enabled CCI to create a low risk, high yielding investment in a prime south coast office location.
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