Covent Garden offices under threat from the lure of residential gold.

Morgan Pryce, the London commercial property agent, has observed a significant decline in the number of offices for rent in Covent Garden and the surrounding area. Converting commercial space to residential property has become increasingly profitable for landlords and developers within Central London and this has had a growing impact on the number of offices for rent in Covent Garden especially.

The largest Covent Garden landlord, Capco, are believed to have invested a further £200m into their Covent Garden portfolio with part of the project involving two schemes for converting existing offices to luxury apartments. Capco have a track record of doing this type of conversion in Central London and other parties have also taken this approach, including the developers Dukelease who recently purchased 17-19 Bedford Street for £10.3 million. They plan to convert the commercial property to residential flats which will further tighten the market.

“The amount of interest shown by developers in Covent Garden has increased significantly” says Tom Lax, Surveyor with Morgan Pryce “this has constricted the office market yet further in an already competitive environment.”

Morgan Pryce is 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.