Frogmore have announced the purchase of 3-5, Bedford Row, Bloomsbury, London, for £15m. The freehold property comprises three interlinked Georgian style townhouses with 24,617 sq ft of office accommodation arranged over five floors. It’s located in Midtown, in the heart of one of London’s main legal districts, close to Holborn and Chancery Lane Underground and Farringdon stations.
Midtown has been one of the best performing Central London office markets in the recent past and will further benefit from the arrival of Crossrail to Farringdon. The three-year business plan is to comprehensively refurbish and extend the building to provide best-in-class office accommodation with strong environmental credentials.
“We’ve been monitoring the Central London office market and have confidence in the post pandemic recovery of this sector given evidence of the ‘return to the office’ ,” said Jo Allen, Chief Executive at Frogmore. “Some of the notable trends we’ve seen, accelerated after the pandemic, include a flight to quality, occupiers seeking flexible leasing terms and a significant rise in the importance of environmentally sustainable buildings”.
The government’s Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) 2027 deadline, which requires landlords to have a minimum Energy Performance Certificate of at least C, will lead to a shortage of good quality supply in the market. This fact, coupled with the arrival of Crossrail and evidence that tenants and investors are demanding sustainable assets, influenced the purchasing decision.
This acquisition is the third purchase for Frogmore’s fourth value add fund, FREP IV. Frogmore previously acquired interests in three of Galliard Homes’ residential developments in London and recently announced a joint venture with C1 Capital for the purchase of three hotels: The Hilton London Olympia for £130m, the Park Inn by Radisson in Northampton for £15m and Stifford Hall, Thurrock for £7.2m.
Frogmore has been investing in UK real estate for over 60 years. Its portfolio spans multiple sectors and has included retail, office, residential, industrial, leisure and alternatives such as retirement homes, student housing and data centres. Over the last 20 years, Frogmore has invested and sold over £7 billion worth of UK real estate across multiple sectors.
