British Land winds its way down to Baker St.

16th Apr 2010 07:05

Property company British Land has bought 2 - 14 Baker Street in London from McAleer & Rushe.British Land is paying £29m for the 1950's built property which sits on the corner of Baker Street and Portman Square.Planning consent was granted in 2009 for a new 139,000 square feet office with retail units at ground floor level.Redevelopment, which is expected to cost around £100m (including the cost of the land) is scheduled to start this year with a target completion date of 2013. British Land will act as the development manager and Northern Ireland-based construction group McAleer & Rushe will be the contractor for the scheme and will take a share of the development profits."This is a great opportunity for British Land to buy into one of the limited number of prime central London locations with planning consent at an early stage in the recovery cycle," said Tim Roberts, Head of Offices at British Land. "We are optimistic about the outlook for rental growth in the West End office market and expect to generate strong returns as we leverage our development expertise," Roberts added.