Spotify backer Accel moves headquarters in West End to The Crown Estate’s One New Burlington Place
East London may have stolen the tech spotlight in recent years as new and more established names flocked to get a foothold in Tech City, however, the West End has proved it is still getting its fair share of deals.
The Crown Estate has today announced that fintech venture capital firm Accel will move its European headquarters to one of its Regent Street schemes.
Accel, which has backed companies including cloud storage firm Dropbox, Spotify, and travel search engine Kayak, will take the entire sixth floor of One New Burlington Place, a Grade II office redevelopment close to Regent Street, which was completed last month.
The companies did not disclose details of the lease, although recent research by Gerald Eve shows how rents in Mayfair and St James’s have been consistently commanding £125 per square feet, with space in the West End in hot demand.
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The Crown Estate, which runs the monarch's property empire, has spent £1bn sprucing up its vast estate around Regent Street and attracting new retailers, restaurants and companies into the area.
It has been busy lining up a string of new tenants as its development programme comes to an end. Recent deals include signing private equity firm Carlyle Group and retailer Jigsaw to its £400m St James’s Market scheme and recording industry body, the IFPI, at 7 Air Street.
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Accel, which has taken 9,000 sq ft, is the Crown Estate's second letting at One New Burlington Place after letting almost twice the space to another, as yet undisclosed company. Both will move in in August.
The landlord has 55 sq ft over four floors remaining in the building while Michael Kors and Polo Ralph Lauren will open flagship stores on the ground floor. The office block also has some quirky features including a green roof to attract wildlife and solar cells across the building to generate electricity.
In total, the Crown Estate has delivered or had under construction nearly 400,000 sq ft of office space in the West End 2015/16, including St James’s Market which is due to open later this year.