Labs House, London

Acting on behalf of several partners managed by a pension fund manager based in Hamburg, the Munich-based family office AM ALPHA, specialising in joint real estate investments with private and institutional partners, has completed the acquisition of Labs House, a Grade A shared office concept building in London.  

The exceptional property was originally constructed in 1928 and newly refurbished in 2019. Today, modern office spaces with an exceptionally high standard interior are found behind the Portland stone and brick facade. The property provides 81,546 square feet of space arranged across multiple levels (lower level, ground floor and nine upper storeys) with excellent natural light coming in from all sides throughout the building. The property is a long-term single let to Labs Worldwide. 

Labs House is conveniently located in Bloomsbury in London’s iconic West End and sits at the convergence of London’s creative districts, surrounded by Fitzrovia, King’s Cross, Soho and Covent Garden. The building occupies a substantial island site in a prime location less than an eight-minute walk from the new Crossrail station (Elizabeth line) at Tottenham Court Road. 
In addition, it is well positioned to benefit from significant nearby infrastructure improvements and a severely constrained development pipeline.
 
According to Martin Lemke, Managing Director at AM ALPHA: “Being one of the main global real estate markets, London is still attractively priced compared to a lot of other gateway cities and therefore remains our focus. One of the key reasons for pursuing this long-term, income-producing acquisition in London is our conviction that the shared office concept will evolve stronger out of the pandemic as tenants seek more flexibility. In this regard, the concept of LabTech is a perfect fit that has also performed strongly during the pandemic. As in the rest of Europe, we intend to substantially grow our UK portfolio with further investments this year in the major cities across all sectors.” 

AM ALPHA was advised on the purchase by CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Knight Frank, Ernst & Young and Paragon. 

AM ALPHA is a Munich based privately owned real estate family office that focuses on global investments in prime real estate on its own account and in collaboration with family offices, private clients and endowments in Europe and Asia. The company is represented in Europe in all major real estate markets with its own offices. Its Asian operations are headquartered in Singapore, with offices in the gateway cities in the Asia Pacific region. AM ALPHA has also received all necessary licenses from German regulator BaFin acting as a German regulated capital management company (Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft – KVG) and Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM). The real estate firm is currently managing a substantial Asia Pacific and European portfolio.