National house builder, Miller Homes Ltd, have announced plans for a relocation of their Basingstoke office within the town.
The Group will relocate operations from Spinnaker House which is located to the north of Chineham Park, to a newly refurbished, self-contained office building on the Faraday Office Park scheme in the Daneshill area. They have leased 7,200 sq ft of fully refurbished offices by way of a new 10 year term, with a break clause at the end of the 5th year. The financial terms of the deal remain under wraps, but the letting agents for Faraday Office Park confirm quoting rents of £15.50 psf apply to the remaining office options.
bdt acted for Miller Homes in the lease acquisition, the landlord (Eskmuir Securities Ltd) were represented by Hollis Hockley.
Tracey Forbes-Taylor, regional operations director for Miller Homes Southern, said:
“We’re excited to be moving into our new office as this reflects our substantial growth in the south. We identified this location as an excellent place to continue to strengthen our already firm footing in the region.”
“The new office, combined with further land investment, will help us achieve the carefully planned and ambitious target set for Miller Homes as a whole, which includes establishing new communities within Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, with plans to branch out even further in the future.”
Miller Homes posted pre-tax profits of £89 million in 2016, so will be a welcome addition to the tenant list on the Park. Eskmuir continue to market the fully refurbished and newly air conditioned space options from between 1,700-6,530 sq ft. A video link showing the quality of the refurbishment is provided within their new website – www.faradayofficepark.com.
On behalf of private clients, bdt incorporating Woodford & Company and Fifield Glyn have sold 8 Winchester Street to Fishnet Properties Ltd.
The property comprises a ground floor retail unit, together with a first floor office, totalling 1,535 sq.ft. It became vacant when the previous tenant, Cash and Cheque closed their Basingstoke branch. The property was sold with vacant possession of the ground floor.
News broke in late 2017 of a proposed deal between the Basingstoke Council, Muse Developments and Eli Lilly which will retain the latter as a major Basingstoke employer over the next decade or so.
Detail remains sparse but it is understood that Lilly’s will be committing towards a lease on brand new office space of 45,000 sq ft, on a site adjacent to Snamprogretti Ltd (now known as eni engineering Ltd). The terms of the deal have not been revealed to date, although it is understood that in a reciprocal transaction, the Council will sell the freehold interest of Lilly’s existing site in Priestley Road to the pharmaceutical company. Ownership of the freehold interest will then unlock redevelopment potential for Lilly’s should they choose to follow this route. Alternatively, they will have retained the option to try and let the existing space for office purposes.
This announcement is good news for the Basingstoke office market and something of a ‘face saver’ for Basing View after The AA withdrew from negotiations to lease the 60,000 sq ft Florence Building. The prelet is thought to be the first of any significant size in 7 years, not only in Basingstoke, but throughout the M3 market.
A change of heart by The AA has meant that the developers of The Florence Building have returned to the open market. Changes at management level apparently prompted The AA to withdrawn from negotiations to sign a new Lease on the entire 60,000 sq ft Basing View office facility. News of this nature is not good for the town and may even be seen as something of a setback for the Council’s promotion of Basing View as being a revitalised ‘in-town’ business location.
Nevertheless, developers, Abstract Securities and their letting agency team are left with no choice but to plough on with what has now become a speculative development scheme, with completion scheduled for July 2018. Their promotional campaign highlights the fact that The Florence Building offers the first new offices in Basingstoke for 15 years. The property will form 5 floors of around 12,000 sq ft each – more likely in our view, to be let as individual or combined floors now that The AA prelet has been thwarted.
Hermes Investment Management have announced a second letting of Grade A office space at ‘Midpoint’, Basingstoke. The latest deal, with Credit Link Account Recovery Solutions (CLARS) Ltd, follows on the heels of FCB Halesway taking space earlier this year.
CLARS have signed up to a 5 year lease on 5,900 sq ft at 5th floor level in the building, located virtually opposite the entrance to the mainline station, adjacent to The Anvil.
The property has seen significant investment this year, not only with the refurbishment of the suites now let to CLARS and FCB Halesway, but also to all common parts (including the main reception area), parking areas and a chemical clean of the external cladding.
CLARS became the fourth tenant in the building, which is ‘anchored’ by engineering consultants Aecom. One further suite of 6,000 sq ft is to be fully refurbished at 1st floor level in the new year, and offered to the market at £18.75 per sq ft. bdt act as one of the appointed joint agents for Hermes.
On behalf of private clients, bdt and Haslams have let 3 Hercules House to Guralp Systems, specialists in the design of seismic instrumentation. They have expanded from their existing premises on Calleva Park, and also taken advantage of a lease event.
Hercules House had been refurbished and it totalled 2,149 sq ft, and was let at an annual rent of £15,000 pa, on a new 5 year lease.
Brian Pickett of bdt commented, “This is now the second building we have let for this client on Calleva Park and it shows there flexible approach to lettings.”
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