Hines sealed a roughly £195 million sale of a prime West End mixed-use building to U.K. National Lottery operator Allwyn Entertainments, marking one of the larger central London trades to close this cycle.
The Houston-based developer sold 80 New Bond Street, also known as The Burlian, in a deal first reported by CoStar. The transaction — $263 million in United States dollars — pencils out to a net initial yield of about 3.7 percent, reflecting continued investor appetite for trophy assets in London’s core retail and office corridors.
Corporate filings indicate the buyer is tied to Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, whose investment group controls Allwyn. The lottery operator formally took over the U.K. National Lottery license in 2024.
Hines acquired the property in March 2020 through its Hines European Value Fund 2, backing a repositioning of the building.
The asset comprises roughly 10,000 square feet of retail space fronting New Bond Street and about 31,000 square feet of offices above. Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch anchors the ground floor, while the offices are leased to a mix of financial and corporate occupiers, including Allwyn itself.
For Hines, the exit signals a well-timed harvest. After several years of muted liquidity following rate hikes and post-pandemic uncertainty, central London volumes have rebounded. Big-ticket trades north of £100 million are reappearing as debt markets stabilize and pricing expectations between buyers and sellers narrow.
Last quarter, there were 68 central London commercial transactions, totaling £3.31 billion, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The full‑year trading volume in the market was £9.76 billion, a 61 percent year-over-year rise and slightly above the five‑year annual average.
The sub-4 percent yield underscores how aggressively capital is targeting best-in-class West End product. While secondary offices across the U.K. continue to reprice, prime mixed-use buildings with luxury retail frontage and refurbished workspace remain insulated.
Last year, Hines agreed to buy the Worship Square office building at 65 Clifton Street in London for approximately $248.7 million. The deal for the 140,000-square-foot property breaks down to more than $1,775 per square foot.
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