Market disruption triggers lease restructuring

The disruption in trading brought by a year of lockdowns has triggered a substantial volume of lease restructuring as landlords and occupiers have endeavoured to respond to the change in market conditions.

At the historic Leadenhall Market in London EC3, the Colliers Retail Lease Advisory team has been appointed by the City Corporation to convert all of the 40 retail, restaurant and leisure leases from standard market rents to turnover-based leases.

Head of Retail Lease Advisory, Matthew Hobbs, comments: “In addition to the City Corporation, we have been working ​ with a number of other major London landowners in restructuring their retail and restaurant leases. A good example of this is an Aviva office and F&B asset in London’s Piccadilly where we have converted all of the leases to short-term turnover rents outside the Act ahead of an impending redevelopment.

“Another recent big win for the team was its appointment by Transport for London to advise on the rent reviews and lease renewals on a portfolio of 30 shops, bars, restaurants, banks and nightclubs across Central London with a total annual rent roll of around £3.5m."

“On the retailer side, we have also been very active. Vivienne Westwood is a prime example, instructing us to deal with the restructuring of all of their prime retail unit leases on a UK-wide basis.”

matthew.hobbs@colliers.com | +44 (0)20 7344 6843