Amazon: principal tenant at Principal Place?

It has been reported this week by the Estates Gazette that the online retail giant Amazon is close to agreeing a lease of around 400,000 square feet in London’s Silicon Roundabout area. The site in question is Brookfield Asset Management’s Principal Place development, and Amazon would become the occupier of over two-thirds of one of the buildings. The building, when constructed, will be a 15-storey tower block in an area populated with TMT (technology, media and telecommunications) businesses. 

No further comments by either party have been made and no further details have been released in respect of the negotiations.

The Seattle-based company already has its engineering site – involved in the TV/interactive/digital media side of the business – at the Tech City hub, setting up an office of several hundred people in 2012. Last year it opened an office for 1,600 at Holborn Viaduct, while its main site remains in Slough. 

The Principal Place development will bring the business areas of Shoreditch together with retail space, offices, cafes and restaurants, with open-air areas and public spaces, offering both work and pleasure opportunities to the many creative industries in the locality. The building that Amazon is said to be taking will have roof terraces with views over the capital. 

Amazon had indicated, following criticism of its tax strategies in recent years, that it would consider moving more of its operations to the UK – and it may be that the prospective Principal Place lease forms part of that plan. The company employs more than 6,000 in the UK and has stated that it intends to increase this number significantly. 

This news was brought to you by Morgan Pryce, a specialist tenant acquisition agent with offices in Oxford Circus and the City. Morgan Pryce specialises in search, negotiation and project management and works exclusively for tenants.