Deutsche Bank AG agreed to forward fund a building that will later house the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) headquarters. The property, sold at 370 million pounds or $537 million, is located in Stratford, east London.
Deutsche Bank asset-management, as the bank unit in charge for the purchase, will buy the building sold by a joint venture between Australian group Lend Lease and UK's London and Continental Railways (LCR). According to City A.M, a week before the deal, Legal & General's Retirement arm agreed to buy Transport for London's (TfL) headquarters in International Quarter, Stratford, for 246 million pounds.
The 515,000 square feet building is a part of a huge development worth more than 2.3 billion pounds. International Quarter, the name of the development project, is located next to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the stadium and sporting complex built for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The site, which size adds up to 22 acre, will host mostly office space, but also shops, restaurants, and hotel. The FCA building, which will be 19-story high will house the organization as they perform their duty regulating financial markets in the UK. After being bought by Deutsche Bank, FCA is scheduled to move into the new building in 2018. With more than 4m square feet land for office space, and 52,000 square feet of shops, International Quarter is expected to create more than 25,000 new jobs by 2025, according to City A.M.
Now the property is still under construction, but FCA already announced their plan to move to the brand-new property since 2014 via LCR's website. David Joy, Chief Executive of LCR also comments on the significance of this measure, "This is really positive news for Stratford and for London as a whole. It's a sign that this new part of the capital has arrived and is delivering on our original vision for Stratford City as a new mixed use metropolitan centre. Stratford has developed into an exceptional new commercial centre based around world class companies."
Land Lease's chief executive for international operations, Dan Labbad, also share the same view with Joy. He also shares their vision to build a word-class, healthy, and flexible workplace in London. James Petit, Deutsche Bank's head of real estate for the U.K and Ireland stated the bank's vision in buying the property, which he claimed has great potential for growth.
To Bloomberg, Petit said via e-mail, "Buying this building is a great opportunity to invest in one of London's emerging markets at an early stage and has great potential for strong growth as occupiers are attracted by the diversity and vibrancy of the area."
The International Quarter development program provides an alternative from shortage of office space in central London that let to the surging of rental prices. The U.K real estate business of Deutsche Bank, with the coordination of asset management unit is ready to add this property to the bank's 5.4 billion euros-worth of assets.
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