Dentons advises Tishman Speyer sale of Smithson Plaza

London—Dentons has advised Tishman Speyer on its sale of west end landmark buildings at Smithson Plaza to the real estate arm of Portuguese insurance company Fidelidade for circa £160 million. The transaction was structured as a corporate share sale.

Smithson Plaza is an architecturally significant Grade II* listed site comprising three buildings situated on St James’s Street, which was developed initially in 1964 by celebrated British architects Alison and Peter Smithson.  The buildings were previously the home of The Economist for many years, before being renovated and extensively refurbished by Tishman Speyer – known for redeveloping and repositioning twentieth century landmark buildings, notably the Rockefeller Center and Chrysler Building in New York – following its acquisition in 2016.

Andrew Henderson, partner in Dentons’ UK Real Estate team who led the sale with Corporate partner Matthew Tinger, said, “We were thrilled to act for Tishman Speyer on the sale of this iconic listed building, in what will be one of the largest investment transactions to close in the final quarter of 2020, a deal made all the more impressive by the climate in which it was completed.”

The Dentons team also included Real Estate senior associate Abbey Wiggett and associates Serena Mohammed and David Stokes, Corporate associates Joseph Collingwood and Jonathan Tulip, Banking partner Catherine Astruc and Tax counsel Alastair Macleod.