Winton Group and Blackstone Inc are among the hedge fund and private equity firms that have helped drive leasing prices of high-end offices in London’s West End to record highs, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Winton Group and Blackstone Inc are among the hedge fund and private equity firms that have helped drive leasing prices of high-end offices in London’s West End to record highs, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites data from broker CBRE Group as revealing that over than 1.3 million square feet of London office space, more than two-and-a-half times the size of the Gherkin skyscraper, was leased at rents above £100 ($123) a square foot last year, with leasing in the West End, home to the Mayfair and St James’s districts favoured by hedge funds, at its strongest since 2000.
2022 also saw high-value deals outside of those traditionally pricier districts reach record levels with a total of 13 deals outside of the West End being completed at rents of over £100 per square foot.
Winton is due to move into its new Knighstbridge headquarters this year having leased the top floors at One Hooper’s Cour, a new development opposite the Harvey Nichols department store. Blackstone meanwhile, agreed a deal last year to rent the soon-to-be-redeveloped 10-floor, 226,000 sq ft Landsdown House on Berkeley Square in Mayfair.
