AshbyCapital, the property investment advisory company, has purchased 127 Kensington High Street and Kensington Arcade from Columbia Threadneedle Investments on behalf of its group investment company.
127 Kensington High Street is a freehold development site located between Holland Park and Kensington Gardens. Immediately adjacent to High Street Kensington Underground station, it will offer easy access to the Circle and District lines, with Paddington station and Crossrail reachable within seven minutes.
Construction is due to start this spring and the building will comprise 117,507 sq ft of high-quality office and retail space when complete in 2021. The six office storeys total 92,147 sq ft and the top three floors feature 13,200 sq ft of landscaped terraces with spectacular views over Kensington. The retail area on the ground floor and basement has been pre-let to Boots PLC.
Designed by Pilbrow and Partners to offer a world-class working environment, 127 Kensington High Street will provide floorplates ranging from 7,169 to 22,809 sq ft and ceiling heights of up to 4.86m. As well as nine car parking spaces, the building will include state-of-the-art facilities for cyclists, with 160 cycle spaces, 16 showers and luxury changing rooms.
Kensington Arcade comprises 16 retail units and three small office spaces, multi-let to 12 tenants. It forms the entrance to High Street Kensington Underground station, which has annual footfall of around 12 million people.
“Development opportunities in prime areas such as Kensington are exceptionally rare. This investment offers a combination of convenience retail and first-rate office space in an established and well-connected location. 127 Kensington High Street will be a truly special business address; the upper three floors in particular have some of London’s largest terraces, with a total area of more than four tennis courts and impressive views.
London is – and will remain – a hub for business, retail and leisure, where demand for high-quality office space will continue. With major occupiers including Warner Music and the London Evening Standard nearby, this is already a popular area with businesses, particularly from the media sector. With Paddington and Crossrail only minutes away, we expect it to become even more desirable when the Elizabeth Line launches next year.
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Janson Urban will act as the development manager; Montagu Evans and Cushman & Wakefield have been appointed as office agents; and Nashbond and Savills are agents for the retail space.
Savills acted for AshbyCapital on the transaction.