Property agents at CBRE and Avison Young are seeking pre-lets for an 80,000 sq ft office building on Liverpool waterfront that was first proposed nine years ago. Tony McDonough reports
CBRE and Avison Young have been tasked with finding potential tenants for a proposed 80,000 sq ft office building on Liverpool waterfront.
Peel Waters, the division of Peel group that oversees the Liverpool Waters project, has appointed the commercial property agencies to market office space across its Princes Dock estate, totalling 200,000 sq ft.
This includes existing offices at No 8, No 10 and No 12 Princes Dock which all overlook the Liverpool Cruise terminal. And the brief also includes funding pre-let tenants for No 5 Princes Dock which has yet to be built.
At the MIPIM property expo in Cannes in March 2015, Peel revealed plans for the 10-storey scheme, to be called William Jessop House. It offered 100,000 sq ft of grade A space. It secured planning consent in June of the same year.
However, mainly due to Liverpool’s relatively low office rents, which are a disincentive to speculative development, the project has yet to become a reality. But Peel remains keen to see it go ahead.
No 5 would be located William Jessop Way in Princes Dock between the multi-storey car park and Moda Living’s £82m, 34-storey residential skyscraper, the Lexington, which was completed in 2021.
Liverpool’s central business district has not seen any major grade A space brought onto the market since the completion of the St Paul’s Square development more than a decade ago.
For the scheme to finally go ahead agents would not need pre-lets on the entire 80,000 sq ft. CBRE director Andy Byrne said: “We are delighted to be instructed by Peel Waters on this exciting development to market available office space.
“Liverpool city region is attracting inward investment and international business with new restaurants, bars and nightlife alongside the iconic waterfront.
“This is a place where people want to live, work and play and Princes Dock is a world-class business destination and leisure complex in the heart of the city.”
No 10 includes flexible managed workspace, ARRIVE while No 12 Princes Dock is a five-storey development with tenants including CMA and CGM Shipping. It also houses The Quay, a range of flexible office suites. No 8 is home to KPMG.
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Liverpool Waters now comprises around £1bn of live projects including Everton’s new stadium, the Isle of Man Ferry terminal, key infrastructure and 600 new homes currently on site.
Liza Marco, senior asset manager at Liverpool Waters, added: “The appointment of CBRE will help cement our traditionally high occupancy levels and ensure the high calibre of our tenants continues long into the future.”