£6.5m redevelopment to create offices and shops in city centre
The transformation of 34 Boar Lane in the heart of Leeds into an office and retail building is nearing completion.
Owners and developers Kinrise are fulfilling ambitious plans to create a mixed-use destination in the 56,000 sq ft building. The property, formerly CGU House, is immediately opposite Leeds Railway Station and Trinity Leeds shopping centre and will be ready for occupation in September.
The £6.5m refurbishment is being undertaken by London-based contractors Oktra.
The building will feature three independent retail and leisure units on the ground floor and five floors of office space. Each floor comprises up to 10,000 sq ft of office space, but can be sub-divided, if necessary.
Kinrise bought 34 Boar Lane for £9.58m from Regional REIT, managed by London & Scottish Investments. As new investors in the city, the co-founders of Kinrise will speak at TheBusinessdesk.com’s property lunch in Leeds on Friday October 11. See below for details on how to book:
Business Lunch: An afternoon with two of Yorkshire’s newest investors
George Haddo, co-founder and director of Kinrise, said: “Our aim is to turn iconic but unloved buildings into creative work and community space. It means the city’s heritage lives on for the future and real cultural capital remains in the centre, rather than being pushed further out.
“Our flagship project in Boar Lane is being regenerated into an inspiring collaborative environment that will offer its occupiers characterful, design-led office and co-working space with top technology as well an exciting range of independent restaurants, shops and events space.
“Our tenant leasing structure enables us to welcome entrepreneurs for just a month in co-working through to 25 years for established businesses. This is a unique approach.
“We are excited to transform this building into a contemporary work space with great character and culture, which will be fit for the many dynamic businesses and creatives basing themselves in Leeds, especially since Channel 4’s arrival in the city.”
Eamon Fox, partner and head of office agency at property consultancy Knight Frank in Leeds, which is marketing 34 Boar Lane, said: “We worked with Kinrise for over three years to find the correct property in Leeds to buy and now our ambitious vision is becoming a reality.
“34 Boar Lane is being substantially redeveloped, incorporating the principles of a diverse community of like-minded people shaping a place together, with connected environments: digitally, physically, socially, but within a design-led, tech-savvy quality space for occupiers to work in.”
Johnston said: “At 34 Boar Lane, we are creating a collaborative environment that offers its resident businesses top-quality and characterful, design-led office space with top-of-the-range technology as well as an exciting range of restaurants and shops.”
“We are excited to transform this building into a contemporary work space which will be fit for the many dynamic businesses basing themselves in Leeds.
“People and organisations thrive as part of a community – the opportunity to build a sense of place is at the centre of what we do when we buy and refurbish buildings. It means the city’s heritage lives on for future generations.”
Fox added: “This project is a game changer and the radical redevelopment of 34 Boar Lane is another excellent example of the strength and buoyancy of the Leeds office and investment market. Last year all sorts of records were broken in this sector and this year has been exceptional too.
“The outlook is very bright. Leeds is very well-connected; its retail offer is superb; and the quality of life in the city is superior to London. There is every reason to be optimistic and no reason to think recent office statistics were simply a never-to-be-repeated flash in the pan. With investors’ money ready and waiting, 2019 is proving to be another exciting and successful year for the Leeds office market.”
