GPE snaps up London’s Fashion Retail Academy building for over £36m
GPE, formerly known as Great Portland Estates, has snapped up the government and Philip Green-backed Fashion Retail Academy building for £36.5m.
While the property development and investment firm has bought the building, in the heart of Fitzrovia, it will remain home to the fashion school until it relocates to a larger building.
The building, a stones’ throw away from the Elizabeth Line Tottenham Court Road, adds around 43,000 square feet of space to GPE’s around 250,000 square foot portfolio.
It comes as the London-headquartered company leases One Newman Street in a fresh 10-year lease to a global investment firm, the name of which GPE has not disclosed.
“We are delighted that this global investment firm has chosen One Newman Street for their new European headquarters,” leasing managing Richard Carson said in a statement this morning.
The offices will be serviced by GPE’s workplace app Sesame, which lets users use contactless access, environmental controls and an online concierge.
The transaction, helped set up by Knight Frank, Colliers and Avison Young, demonstrates the “increasing appeal” of technology-focussed offices, added Carson.