Michael Kingshott’s Halkin has
secured the backing of US investment giant Angelo, Gordon & Co to pursue
mixed-use development projects and separately signed a 62,000 sq ft letting on
London’s South Bank for its expanding serviced office portfolio.
The Halkin
team aims to create 11,000 workstations in expansion drive.
In an interview with Property
Week, Kingshott, the founder of Halkin and former managing director of
Serviced Office Group, said the group would split in two, creating an
operations company to manage its serviced offices and a property company to
seek development and investment opportunities.
The first scheme for the propco
is a £200m, 300,000 sq ft project on an island site in Graphite Square,
Vauxhall, which Halkin will develop in partnership with property development
and investment firm Bmor.
“Bmor came to us about the site
and we pulled the finance together,” said Kingshott.
With the backing of Angelo
Gordon, Halkin is on the lookout for other sites.
Rapid expansion next year
The company also has its sights
on a rapid expansion from three to 15 serviced offices during the course of the
next year.
Advised by Lambert Smith Hampton,
it has already agreed a deal to take the entire 62,000 sq ft at 1-2 Paris
Gardens, on London’s
South Bank, where the group will open its fourth serviced office
centre later this month.
Paris Gardens, which was marketed
by Union Street Partners, will have 900 workstations, a mixture of open-plan
co-working space, meeting rooms and self-contained office units.
While Kingshott would not comment
on the details, it is believed Halkin has agreed a 10-year lease at close to
£50/sq ft for the premises.
The Paris Gardens site joins
Halkin’s exclusive Brook Street serviced office and club, which are next to and
run in partnership with upmarket hotel Claridge’s. The group also has an office
at Watford Junction, and the soon-to-be-launched Mermaid Theatre in the City of
London.
Paris Gardens is going to be a
great place to work - Michael Kingshott
“We will phase the opening of
Paris Gardens, with the ground floor and first floor opening within two weeks.
We’ll have the rest of the building ready within three months,” said Kingshott.
“With high-end 2GB broadband, a really flexible working space to suit
one-man-bands to growing start-ups, and the delights of the South Bank on your
doorstep, it’s going to be a great place to work.
“We are aiming to create a
15-strong portfolio of serviced office sites, looking for sites in areas such
as Waterloo, the West End, Midtown and the City. We may then expand our
locations again, into cities such as Birmingham, Milton Keynes and Manchester.
Overall, this current expansion phase will result in around 11,000 workstations
across the portfolio.”
Kingshott launched Halkin last
year with cash from the £44m sale of his former business, Serviced Office
Group, to Regus.
If you are interested in any of Halkin's serviced offices please call Gryphon Property Partners on 0203 440 9800 or click on the following link - Halkin