Central London property investor and asset manager Seaforth Land has acquired a freehold office asset in the West End from Mike Hussey's Almacantar for £165 mln (€188 mln).

caa house

Caa House

The Holborn property is a Grade II listed building with 229,192 ft2 (21,290 m2) of office space split across two connected properties. 43-59 Kingsway has eight storeys, while 1 Kemble Street has 15.

'As a Central London value investor, Seaforth Land views CAA House as a unique opportunity to place-make while delivering office space designed around the rapidly elevating needs of our customers – creative and corporate tenants,' said Tyler Goodwin, CEO of Seaforth Land.

'Specialisation has helped us to move quickly to identify, underwrite and discreetly execute this off-market transaction. We’re looking forward to returning ‘Spacehaus’ to the London office market as a celebration of mid-century modern Brutalist architecture.'

The asset is fully occupied by the Civil Aviation Authority at a rent of £29.23 per ft2, on a lease expiring in December 2019.

Originally known as Space House, the 1968 building was designed by Richard Seifert and Partners.

'Space House is one of my favourite West End buildings and has served us very well since our acquisition in 2012,' said Almacantar CEO Hussey.

'Almacantar will recycle the equity released into our future pipeline projects.'

Seaford Land said the deal represented the firm's fourth acquisition.

Seaforth Land was represented by Capital Real Estate Partners; Almacantar was unrepresented.