Abu Dhabi Royals Nearing Sale of West End London Office

As Abu Dhabi’s ruling family pursues one major development in London’s West End, they appear ready to wash their hands of another.

Berkeley Estate Asset Management, responsible for the London assets of the Al Nahyan family, is nearing a deal to sell the office building at 72 Welbeck Street in the Marylebone district for roughly £165 million, or $226 million USD, Bloomberg reported. The prospective buyer is reportedly CBRE Investment Management, which declined to comment.

In addition to office space, the 114,000-square-foot building includes seven retail spaces on the ground floor and 23 apartment units managed by Native Places.

The royal family purchased the property in 2005 for £95.5 million. It currently generates approximately £7.7 million a year in rent, or $10.6 million USD.

The Al Nahyan clan is typically buying or expanding its holdings abroad, not reducing them. But the timing of the potential sale is likely tied to another West End development in the portfolio, which a sale of 72 Welbeck Street could help finance.

Last month, Westminster City Council signed off on Berkeley Estate Asset Management’s plan to remake the former flagship BHS store and the neighboring London College of Fashion site into a massive office-and-retail complex.

The proposal for 33 Cavendish Square, designed by KPF, comes with roughly 800,000 square feet of offices atop more than 100,000 square feet of shops, a scale typically seen for the City of London district, not the West End.

The Cavendish Square project would rank among the royal family’s most ambitious yet and stand out in a district dominated by smaller, protected historic stock.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase is considering building London’s largest office building, slated to span more than 2 million square feet, at its Riverside South site in Canary Wharf, designed by Foster + Partners. The riverside parcel could also deliver the longest frontage on the Thames and uninterrupted views of London’s skyline.

— Holden Walter-Warner