Here East turns away tenant to pursue higher rents

Here East, once billed as the ‘white elephant’ of the Olympic Park, continues to defy predictions and a difficult reputation and attract significant tenants and interest. Its impressive list of current occupiers includes Ford, Loughborough University, BT Sport, and a robotics research facility run by UCL. The Victoria & Albert Museum is also set to take up 60,000 sq to store collection items not on display at its main site in South Kensington.

In fact, the owners of the scheme are now so confident in its desirability that they have taken back 145,000 sq ft from a data centre occupier because they have found a different tenant for a large proportion of the space and want to seek a new tenant for the remaining space at a higher rent.

Chief Executive at Here East, Gavin Poole, says: “People thought this was going to be the white elephant, but we had a vision of what it could be from day one…We weren’t scared, we were excited about what it could be, because we weren’t real estate people, we came from a range of backgrounds…What you have to remember is that there is a real shortage of studio space in London for people who need to create content, and this space is ideal for that. Local studios are full to bursting, because of the rise of streaming services and the fact that streaming companies are creating their own content.” 

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.