West Midlands Trains Ltd is relocating its Birmingham headquarters to new offices at 134 Edmund Street in the city centre.
The rail operator, which is responsible for train services across the region, has taken 21,743 sq ft on the 2nd, 3rd and part of the 4th floor from landlord TRIUVA, a PATRIZIA company. The rent is undisclosed.
JLL and CBRE advised TRIUVA. West Midlands Trains Ltd was unrepresented.
West Midlands Trains Ltd is currently based at 102 New Street. In August last year, the company, a joint venture between Dutch firm Abellio and Japanese partners, was awarded the contract to run the West Midlands rail franchise, taking over routes previously operated by London Midland.
As part of the contract, West Midlands Trains Ltd is investing almost £1bn in upgrading trains and services.
The letting to West Midlands Trains Ltd follows a £1.5m investment in 134 Edmund Street by German property investment management company TRIUVA to upgrade the reception area, common parts and three vacant floors to bring it up to modern Grade A office specification. The last phase of works completed in January 2018.
The remaining 4,500 sq ft on the fourth floor is currently available to let. Existing tenants include Anthony Collins Solicitors and Clarke Willmott.
Theo Holmes, director in CBRE’s office agency team, said: “At 21,743 sq ft this is the biggest completed office letting in the traditional core this year and takes another significant chunk of Grade A space out of the market, leaving less than 400,000 sq ft of new and refurbished Grade A space in the market.
“With Birmingham continuing to attract significant inward investment, particularly from companies in the rail and construction sectors, on the back of HS2, and further government department relocations, we can expect supply levels to be eroded even further for the next 12 to 18 months, until the next big tranche of speculative office space is delivered, most notably at Three Snowhill and Two Chamberlain Square.”
Nick Taylor, director at TRIUVA, said “We’re delighted to announce the letting to West Midland Trains. It supports our decision to refurbish the common parts and vacant 2nd to 4th floors to a grade A specification. Our focus now turns to the letting of the remaining 4,500 sq ft.”