JUST a year after they were officially opened by Princess Anne, the Standard Life Aberdeen offices at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh are reportedly up for sale at a rumoured asking price of £130 million.
If the deal goes ahead, it will be the biggest office sale in the capital since the Atria complex was sold by Edinburgh Council for more than £100m two years ago. Since then, many smaller office buildings have been fetching premium prices due mainly to the lack of grade A office space in the city centre in particular.
It would also give a quick return for the developers Standard Life Pooled Pension Property Fund and Peveril Securities, who reportedly spent £75m replacing near-derelict offices – once the headquarters of Scottish Provident – with a mix of workspaces, restaurants, retail units and five apartments.
The design of the building ensured the retention of the “listed” elements and while there was some opposition to the plans, councillors eventually voted in favour of the project which, unlike some other developments in the area, was not seen as a threat to Edinburgh’s World Heritage status.
The Standard Life Aberdeen building contains more than 100,000 square feet of offices which houses up to 1000 staff. It is also home to the popular Ivy restaurant and other eateries as well as a branch of TK Maxx.
The potential sale was reported by Property Week, which stated the Standard Life Pooled Pension Property Fund is said to have held discussions with a number of parties keen to buy the prestigious building just off Princes Street.
A Korean and a German investment fund are said to be looking into the space, reflecting the amount of interest in the Edinburgh prime property market from abroad which has been a notable trend in recent years.
The merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset last year did not affect the existing pre-signed deal under which Standard had taken a 15-year lease on the building at a reported annual rent of £3.2m.
It has been widely reported that the property fund has been disposing or trying to dispose of assets after underperforming recently.
There was no comment from Standard Life Aberdeen yesterday.
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