Deutsche
Bank is in talks to relocate staff based in the City of London to a new 500,000
sq ft headquarters building in London’s Docklands, CoStar News can reveal.The German bank has initiated early stage
discussions with landlord Canary Wharf Group over the potential move to the
developer’s 2.4m sq ft North Quay scheme where Deutsche could take around
500,000 sq ft.
The move is designed to coincide with 2023 lease
expiries across two of its offices in the City. Deutsche is the main tenant in
Winchester House, 1 Great Winchester Street, EC2, where it occupies 192,000 sq
ft on a lease which expires in 2023. A lease re-gear at another of its City
offices, 1 Appold Street, gave the bank another 2023 lease event. DB
also occupies space in 99 Bishopsgate. If a deal at North Quay materialises, the office
will be in addition to the 388,000 sq ft Docklands office at 10 Upper Bank
Street, which Deutsche opened in December. The bank pre-let the space from law
firm Clifford Chance, occupying podium floors of around 50,000 sq ft.
Canary Wharf Group is targeting completion at North
Quay for 2024. The 7.3-acre site comprises a mixture of office buildings with
flexible floor plates as well as tall resi towers.
Much of the staff from 6-8 Bishopsgate moved to the
Clifford Chance space, where the bank occupied around 147,000 sq ft. The deal
at Upper Bank Street ended an on-off requirement to relocate from 6-8
Bishopsgate which had been more than five years in the making. Deutsche Bank
has long been considering exiting its lease at 6-8 Bishopsgate, which
Mitsubishi Estate Company bought for £95m in 2011 with a view to redeveloping
it along with 150 Bishopsgate into a major tower scheme.
In 2012, Deutsche shortlisted 25 Churchill Place in
Canary Wharf, E14; the Heron Tower, EC2; The Shard, SE1; and Cannon Place, EC4,
for a relocation of the 6-8 Bishopsgate staff.
The requirement was later shelved but three years
later has been reactivated with two notable differences: an increase in the
amount of space required from 150,000 sq ft to 400,000 sq ft, and the
willingness to consider locations outside of London.
JLL is advising Deutsche Bank. GM Real Estate, CBRE
and JLL are the leasing agents on North Quay.
All parties declined to comment.