Unity Real Estate completes £45.8m purchase of Byron House

Unity Real Estate has completed a £45.8 million purchase of the prestigious Byron House on St James’s Street, central London.

Byron House is Unity’s largest acquisition to date and marks a significant milestone in the growth of the Unity Real Estate portfolio.

Byron House provides more than 36,000 sq ft of Grade A office, retail and restaurant space across lower ground, ground and six upper floors. The building is home to the royal warrant holding bootmaker John Lobb on the ground floor.

John Lobb, which was established in 1849, have been in the building for more than sixty years. The six floors above are currently leased as offices to six tenants, one per floor.

Unity Real Estate CEO Danny Ungar said: “Byron House is our largest acquisition to date. We were attracted by the superb location and high quality of the building, so we were delighted to be successful. The office space is fully let however we see opportunities to further develop both the basement and seventh floor for the benefit of our occupiers.

“The recent closure of The Avenue restaurant on the ground floor means that we have an exciting opportunity to select a new, high quality restaurant operator to further enhance the building for both tenants and the wider St James’s area. This selection process is underway and we invite interested operators to get in touch.”

Danny added: “This acquisition is an important milestone for Unity Real Estate and we are looking forward to making further acquisitions through the course of 2023 and beyond.”

William Lobb said: “John Lobb, the family-owned bespoke shoe and bootmaker started in 1849. For the last 60 years the company has been privileged to continue producing handmade bespoke shoes, boots and slippers from Byron House at 9 St James’s Street.

“We are delighted to have Unity as our new landlord. We have been very pleased with their support towards our business so far and look forward to a strong future for both of our businesses.”

Unity Real Estate’s acquisition of Byron House is the first since the company re-branded from Dao. It is part of Unity Group, a global investment group headquartered in London. The company has relaunched at http://unitygroup.world.

A sister company, Unity Maritime, operates a fleet of eighteen top tier dry cargo ships under the UK tonnage tax regime.

Further information

• Byron House provides 36,232 sq ft of Grade A office, retail and restaurant space arranged over lower ground, ground and six upper floors.
• Byron House is located on St James’s Street, with a dual frontage to Crown Passage.
• More details on Byron House can be found online at http://byronhouse.london.