After a three-year wait … the Walbrook secures its first tenants
THE WALBROOK Building opposite Cannon Street station has finally clinched its first two tenants, nearly three years since it was first built.
Property developer Minerva, said it has secured the first deal with insurance broker, Arthur J Gallagher, which has taken offices on the ground floor and the whole of the seventh floor amounting to just over 60,000 square feet (sq ft).
The company has signed a 15-year lease and is paying a rent of £57.50 per sq ft.
Minerva also announced that Jones Lang LaSalle have signed a 12-year lease on 10,500 sq ft of office space on the eighth floor.
The property agent, which is paying £60 per sq ft, will use the office as its new City headquarters.
The Walbrook, designed by Foster and Partners, comprises 445,000 sq ft of office and retail space. It was first completed in February 2010, but has been empty ever since.
The two deals mean it is now just over 15 per cent let.
The City’s EC2 postcode, traditionally dominated by the financial service sector firms, has suffered from a lacklustre lettings market as companies shelve plans for new space amid job cuts and the threat of a triple dip recession.
The main lettings over the past year have come from a wave of insurers looking for new offices near the Lloyd’s of London building.
Minerva was bought in 2011 by a consortium led by Jamie Ritblat’s Delancey and private equity group Area Property Partners. It also owns the City’s St Botolph building which recently signed insurer Jardine Lloyd Thompson as a tenant.