Lend Lease, LCR sell €492m London project to Deutsche Bank

Lend Lease and London and Continental Railways (LCR) have inked another £370 mln (€492 mln) sale at the £2.1 bn International Quater development in London's Stratford district.

Deutsche Bank’s asset management unit has agreed to buy the building that will house the Financial Conduct Authority starting from 2018.

The Deutsche Bank unit will buy the 19-storey property, which is under construction, on behalf of one of the lender’s German funds.

‘Buying this building is a great opportunity to invest in one of London’s emerging markets at an early stage and has great potential for strong growth as occupiers are attracted by the diversity and vibrancy of the area,’ said James Petit, Deutsche Bank’s head of real estate for the UK and Ireland, said in the statement.

The International Quater development has attracted €824 mln of new investment since the start of the year, confirming itself as one of the emerging business centres in the London capital.

In early January developers Lend Lease and its 50/50 partner, LCR have announced the sale of an office project being developed on behalf of Transport for London (TfL) to Legal & General Retirement (LGR). The transaction price amounted to £246 mln (€332 mln).

The building, which is under development next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is pre-let to the London transport authority with a 25-year lease. Construction officially started in June on the new 265,000 sq ft (24,600 m2) building which will provide TfL's third accommodation hub, housing 3,000 TfL workers from autumn 2017. The project is part of the International Quarter on the London Olympics site which, with a total of 4 million sq ft (370,000 m2), is currently one of Europe’s largest mixed-use developments.