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- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 12:10 pm
It is an interesting article which serves to emphasise the high level of demand for Grade A office space in Cardiff. There's no real news on the HMRC building but quite a bit of detail on other schemes.
Here is less than 50%
"Elsewhere, occupiers with requirements for new offices will have to move swiftly if they are to secure space in the 75,000 sq ft 3 Capital Quarter. The city’s latest speculative development - by another family company, JR Smart - is soon to reach practical completion and Matt Phillips, the partner in charge of Knight Frank’s Cardiff office, says there is already interest from three prospective tenants each wanting either 35,000 sq ft or 40,000 sq ft.
"JR Smart is developing Capital Quarter on a former industrial estate in the city centre and the development will ultimately include four office buildings.
"The Welsh government bought the first, enabling JR Smart to continue the project. It sold the 80,000 sq ft office for £20m last year and Phillips anticipates the second building of 82,000 sq ft will sell for £23m.
"There is no start date for the fourth building at Capital Quarter, but if it goes ahead it will be the largest development on the site.
"Significant refurbishment
"In the meantime, Cardiff has its first Creative Quarter, thanks to Helical. Having converted the David Morgan department store in the city centre into shops more than a decade ago, the London-based developer has since converted the space above the adjoining arcade into 33 office suites.
"Within 18 months, 20 of the units, totalling 8,500 sq ft, have been let on three - or five-year leases, and a further six suites are under offer through Knight Frank and Ashdown Phillips.
"There are also significant refurbishment projects under way in the Welsh capital. Two Kingsway, the former office of the Welsh Development Agency, has just been brought to the market after refurbishment by London-based Ardstone Capital.
"Jennie Howells, a surveyor at JLL who is agent on the development, says that Ardstone is hoping for a single tenant, or at least to let on a floor-by-floor basis, and is quoting a rent of £24/sq ft.
"Elsewhere, Schroders, advised by Savills, spent £1m on the refurbishment of Haywood House and Dumfries Place and has attracted Slater and Gordon as a tenant. The law firm has taken a 10-year lease with a five-year break at £18/sq ft - a third higher than the pre-refurb rents.
"Unfortunately, despite the level of refurbishment and development activity, there is unlikely to be enough office space to satisfy demand, not least because two of the sites that were under consideration by the GPU have now been changed to other uses.
"Following the GPU’s rejection of a Welsh government-owned site in Callaghan Square in favour of Central Square, it was confirmed that the city council, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Chinese company Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings would develop the university’s media and communications campus on the site.
"The other rejected site is Cardiff Bay’s 3 Assembly Square, which owner Aviva Investors, advised by Knight Frank, now intends to use for a Premier Inn hotel."