Qube Research & Technologies has arranged a series of private deals to take space in the n2 building in Victoria that had been let to other tenants, according to people familiar with the situation who asked not to be named because the agreements are private. These extra floors mean QRT will take up most of the 161,000-square-foot development, following its initial 40,000-square-foot commitment made in 2022 while the project was still being built. Representatives for QRT and the owner, Land Securities Group Plc, declined to comment.
QRT emerged in 2018 as a spin-off from Credit Suisse with $800 million and has since grown into one of the largest players in the $5 trillion hedge fund industry. As of August, it managed about $55 billion in assets, runs a market-making arm, trades in physical commodities, and channels capital to dozens of other hedge funds. In the first six months of this year, its Torus fund returned 18.6%.
London's top-tier offices are scarce after a run of shocks and a sharp rise in building costs slowed development, even as occupier demand remained resilient. Knight Frank counts only 73,000 square feet of new-build space in Mayfair and St James's coming between 2028 and 2030 that is not already leased, while hedge funds and specialist investment firms are collectively seeking 1.8 million square feet, nearly 25 times that pipeline. "Post-Covid we've seen a lack of development activity and we're now effectively paying the price for that today," Knight Frank researcher Chris Dunn said.
The rush for top addresses stretches beyond Victoria. According to two people familiar with the deal, Ken Griffin's Citadel and Citadel Securities exercised an option to add one more floor at 2 Finsbury Avenue - a Broadgate tower where they agreed in 2024 to lease space. The pair will now take about 280,000 square feet in the British Land Co. led development, scheduled to finish next year. Both British Land and Citadel had no comment through their representatives.
Elsewhere, Verition Fund Management inked an agreement to take offices in Lucent on Piccadilly Circus, while Sona Asset Management earlier this year took space at the nearby Pegasus development. GHO Capital has also committed to a lease at 33 Jermyn Street for a new office. Bloomberg News has reported that, according to Bloomberg News, D.E. Shaw & Co. has reached an agreement to lease a new workspace from Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster's property company, in Mayfair. "Genuinely best-in-class space is exceptionally limited," said James Fairweather, Knight Frank's head of central London tenant representation. "Firms are negotiating renewals earlier, securing expansion rights and, in some cases, taking additional space to protect future growth."
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When fast-growing funds lock down prime offices, it signals where demand is strongest and how limited the options are. If you follow property-linked investments, watch how preleases, options, and early renewals stack up in London's core districts - that is where competition is hottest and pricing power shows up.
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