LGP snaps up new Transport for London HQ for €332m

Legal & General Retirement (LGR) has completed the purchase of a new office being developed on behalf of Transport for London (TfL) for £246 mln (€332 mln).

The building is under development next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at the £2.1 bn International Quater in the Stratford district of the UK capital. The London transport authority has taken a 25-year lease on the building.

Vendors Lend Lease and LCR announced in June that construction had officially started on the new 265,000 sq ft building which will provide TfL's third accommodation hub, housing 3,000 TfL workers from autumn 2017. TfL signed an agreement to lease at the beginning of May.

With a total of 4 million sq ft (370,000 m2), The International Quarter baed on the London Olympics site is one of Europe’s largest mixed-use developments . It is being delivered by Lend Lease and LCR in a 50/50 joint venture.

The acquisition adds to a string of acquisitions by L&G in the UK. To date, the group has made £6.6 bn of a committed £15 bn of new direct investments in the UK.

Kerrigan Procter, managing director of LGR, said: 'This is a great deal for L&G and our annuitants, as well as for Stratford, where we expect to see real growth in jobs and homes as The International Quarter becomes operational. It is further evidence that we have the scale and the expertise to make a real difference by making our long-term funding available. The UK is a great place to invest and investing in real assets is economically and socially useful; we intend to do more.'

Cushman & Wakefield advised Legal & General, while JLL acted for Lend Lease and LCR.