Prime L&G building on the market for £34.16m

THE prime Hodge House office building in the centre of Cardiff has been put for sale by its owner Legal & General with a £34.16m asking price.

- SION BARRY

The Grade-II listed building has been transformed under the ownership of the financial services giant, which has invested £20m refurbishing it to provide 110,000 sq ft of grade A modern space.

The building, which is fully let, has also set a new record rental level for Cardiff at £37.50 per sq ft for fitted-out office space.

When refurbishment work started in 2019, space was being marketed from £15 to £16 per sq ft. Rent for non fitted-out space in the eight-storey building is being quoted at £30 per sq ft.

L&G has appointed the capital markets team of property advisory firm Knight Frank to market the freehold interest in Hodge House, whose tenants include alternative broadband infrastructure venture Ogi, taxi technology company Veezu, renewables firm Bute Energy and marketing and PR consultancy Freshwater.

Andrew Mercer, offices sector lead at L&G, said: "Cardiff is very important to L&G and is where we have one of our own core office buildings as well as funding the award-winning Central Square development around Cardiff Central Station. As a development by L&G, Hodge House builds on this Cardiff success.