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The company called Abstract (Glasgow) Ltd said it will build a new office tower on St Vincent Street in the central part of the city ahead of its hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Construction of the speculative development, for which extensive plans have now been submitted to local authorities, is expected to start in the early part of 2012 and complete before the end of the following year.
The building has been provisionally named St Vincent Plaza and looks set to add around 170,000 sqft to the supply of Grade A office space to rent in Glasgow.
Christopher McPherson, development director at Abstract, said floorplates planned for the 10-storey scheme will be virtually column-free and cover 170,000 sqft.
“It will provide the most efficient and environmentally friendly office accommodation in the city and will be delivered into a market where available ‘Grade A’ supply has all but disappeared,” he said.
Mark Glatman, chief executive of Abstract Securities, which owns Abstract Ltd, commented: “This scheme is all about value at a time when corporate occupiers have to have a close eye on the bottom line and cannot justify heavy costs.
“With tight design and procurement, we are able to bring this building to the market quoting rentals from £23 per sq ft very deliberately and significantly undercutting the established Glasgow market.”
On the banks of the River Clyde, Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and the third most populous in the UK. A report from property analysts at DTZ said last week that office rental activity fell in central Glasgow during the third quarter of this year but increased in out-of-town locations.
Editor’s notes: The development of St Vincent Plaza at 303 St Vincent Street was underway in 2013 and completed in 2015.
The landlords of the property secured Whyte and Mackay Limited as the first tenants which agreed to rent 17,276 square feet in November 2015. KPMG were then secured as anchor tenants renting 39,705 square feet on floors 8, 9 and 10, the professional services firm also agreed to pay £117,824.77 per annum for signage at the property until its lease expired in 2031.
Other tenants secured at St Vincent Plaza included Zurich Insurance Plc which took occupation in May 2018, Mott MacDonald, Registers of Scotland (RoS), Wood Group UK Limited, and Pelion IOT Limited. Caffe Nero rented the ground floor retail element of the property on a 10-year lease.
As of July 2023, the fully-let St Vincent Plaza was being marketed for sale. With an average office rent of £24.65 per square foot, the total topped-up passing rent was £4,522,083 per annum. At that time prime yields stood at circa 6%.