Seaforth Land completes acquisition of West End asset in £165m deal

Seaforth Land, the commercial real estate investor and asset manager, has made its fourth acquisition with the purchase of a West End asset.

The firm has agreed to buy the freehold of CAA House in Holborn from Almacantar for £165m.

CAA House is a Grade-II listed office building that comprises 229,192 sq ft of office space split across two interconnected buildings of eight storeys at 43-59 Kingsway and 15 storeys at 1 Kemble Street.

The property is fully let to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) until December 2019 at a rent of £29.23 per sq ft, reflecting a net initial yield on sale of 4%.

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

The building was first let to CAA in 1975 and latterly purchased by Almacantar in 2012 for around £110m before being registered Grade-II listed status in 2015.

The property offers parking for 22 vehicles and common basements with 21,106 sq ft of ancillary accommodation.

Located in the Covent Garden submarket, CAA House is close to many of London’s entertainment and cultural offerings, including Leicester Square, Soho, Covent Garden Piazza, Royal Opera House, Somerset House, the British Museum and the Theatre District.

Tyler Goodwin, CEO of Seaforth Land, commented: “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.

“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.”

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

“I am looking forward to seeing Seaforth Land’s revitalisation and wish them well with the project. Almacantar will recycle the equity released into our future pipeline projects.”

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