Wells Fargo Completes Purchase of 33 King William Street from HB Reavis

LONDON — Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced it has completed its purchase of 33 King William Street (formerly known as 33 Central) in the City of London from the international real estate developer HB Reavis. This office development, which the company announced in July 2016, is the first international real estate purchase outside of the United States for Wells Fargo, and it will serve as the company’s London headquarters.

With construction now complete on the new building, Wells Fargo plans to move approximately 1,200 team members, currently based in four locations across the city, into 33 King William Street during the fourth quarter of 2018. The relocation of Wells Fargo’s London team members will take place in tranches; and to commemorate the company’s rich history, the new building will house a Wells Fargo stagecoach, which will be stationed in the reception area.   

Located in the heart of the City of London, 33 King William Street is one of the most well-connected office buildings in Central London within just a stone's throw from London Bridge, Monument and Bank, as well as within walking distance of major cultural sites such as the Tower of London, Borough Market and London’s Cycle Superhighway.

The building is designed by award-winning British architecture practice John Robertson Architects, which worked alongside HB Reavis’ in-house design and technical experts to combine stunning design with modern technical solutions.

One of the building’s main stand-out features is the impressive roof top garden, designed by Townshend Landscape Architects, which houses over 40 different species of wild plants and flowers native to Britain. The roof garden also offers panoramic views of London’s most famous landmarks including the Shard, St. Paul’s, 20 Fenchurch Street and the River Thames.

33 King William Street has been built to BREEAM Excellent standard and provides 225,000 sq ft of Grade A office space over 11 floors. The large flexible office floor plates and state of the art facilities maximise natural light and outside space, while making the most of the spectacular surrounding views.

HB Reavis acquired the site in late 2013 and commenced construction in mid-2014. In July 2016, Wells Fargo entered an agreement to purchase 33 King William Street in one of the largest single office deals in the City of London market that year and less than a month after the historical Brexit vote of June 2016.

Frank Pizzo, Regional President, EMEA, Wells Fargo said:

“This is a significant milestone for Wells Fargo’s international footprint as it demonstrates our commitment to the UK, which accounts for a large part of our business activity in EMEA. Utilising our new London headquarters as a base, Wells Fargo will be better positioned to continue to serve our customers and efficiently manage our operations in the UK and across the wider region”.

Radim Rimanek, Member of the Board, HB Reavis commented:

“The completion of 33 King William Street is an important moment for HB Reavis as the building is our first investment in London and the first of our four London projects to complete. Wells Fargo’s decision to partner with HB Reavis is a great endorsement for us. It validates our vision to deliver truly remarkable, design-led workspaces, carefully tailored for people who work there, live near or visit the surrounding area”.

John Robertson, Principal Director at John Robertson Architects, said:

"The key challenge at 33 King William Street was to design a truly modern building that worked contextually alongside a number of historically significant buildings including the adjacent Grade II* listed Fishmongers’ Hall, the Art Deco Adelaide House opposite and within view of Wren’s Monument. Our design complements rather than competes with its historic surroundings and was conceived as a long-term high-quality contribution to the City".

 ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Terms of the transaction, including purchase price of 33 King William Street, are not being disclosed.

In the EMEA region, Wells Fargo serves corporate, commercial and financial institution customers through 16 lines of business, which include financial institutions group, corporate banking, securities, commercial real estate, capital finance and asset management.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,400 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 268,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2017 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

About HB Reavis

HB Reavis is an international real estate developer founded in 1993 in Bratislava, Slovakia. It operates in the United Kingdom, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and in Turkey and is currently the third largest developer in Europe, according to PropertyEU’s annual ‘Top Developers Survey’.

The operations have so far yielded a total of 9.88 million sq ft of modern offices, shopping and entertainment spaces in addition to logistics facilities. Over 10 million sq ft of developments are in the planning, permit or construction stages. HB Reavis relies on a fully integrated business model covering development, construction, property and investment management. The group has total assets of £1.8 billion, with a net asset value of £1 billion. With more than 600 professionals, HB Reavis is a global market leader in international commercial real estate.

HB Reavis’ strong market position has been recognised through numerous awards, such as the UK Property Award "Best Office Architecture London 2015" for 33 Central and the CEE Quality Award for "Developer of the Year in CEE, 2015". For more information, please visit http://www.hbreavis.com/. 

About John Robertson Architects

Since its establishment in 1993, John Robertson Architects has designed and delivered a significant number of high quality buildings both in the UK and abroad.

Led by John Robertson and fellow directors Festus Moffat, David Magyar and Smita Bhat the practice has wide-ranging project experience, from masterplanning to conceptual and detailed design, spanning the commercial, heritage, education and residential sectors.

JRA is currently working on a number of retrofit and urban infill projects in sensitive locations in central London, adding significant value to existing buildings by creative, sustainable and thoughtful design. Recent completed refurbishment projects include The Pepper Store at Devonshire Square, Broadgate Quarter and One Southampton Street, which was awarded the highest ever post-completion BREEAM score for an office refurbishment at the date of completion. In 2014 JRA completed the refurbishment of Bush House and the Aldwych Quarter, the historic former home of the BBC World Service.

The practice’s dedicated fit-out and workplace design team uses the experience gathered in over 23 years of work in the commercial architecture and fit-out sector, with substantial Central London experience. Completed fit-out projects include Phase 1 and 2 of King’s College Bush House Campus, WeWork co-working space in Shoreditch and the headquarters of YUM! in Woking, Surrey.

New-build projects in London include 33 Central near Monument Station and Crossrail over-site developments at Farringdon and Moorgate. Overseas, the practice is working on the high-rise headquarters of BankMed in Beirut, Lebanon. 

For further information please visit: http://www.jra.co.uk/