PayPal Takes 40K SF At Southbank As CBRE Says Area Has London's Largest Development Pipeline
PayPal has signed a lease to take 40K SF of space at 76 Southbank’s top floor as the project reached practical completion. The company will become the building’s first occupier.
The transformation and extension of the 300K SF 76 Southbank, a Grade II listed building adjacent to the National Theatre, delivered with Stanhope as development manager, LaSalle Investment Management as asset manager and Multiplex as main contractor. Cheyne Capital Real Estate provided the financing for the project.
With a Q2 2026 occupancy anticipated, 76 Southbank is close to PayPal’s current City offices, and the completed refurbishment of the building includes 50K SF of outdoor terraces plus a double-height entrance lobby.
The project is targeting a BREEAM Outstanding certification and NABERS five-star rating. CBRE and JLL have been appointed as agents for 76 Southbank, while JLL acted for Paypal.
This month, CBRE revealed that the Southbank district of London has the largest development pipeline of any central London market, lining up the area for significant growth.
Total office stock in Southbank stood at 19.5M SF at the end of 2024 and has the potential to grow to 21.3M SF by 2029, while there is 4.1M SF of development and refurbishment space under construction or with planning consent with the potential to complete before the end of 2029, according to CBRE data.
Among those will be a major mixed-use scheme on Blackfriars Road in Bankside from real estate investor Hines, which will develop the site as a sustainable office and residential neighbourhood by 2030, with construction set to start later this year.
The development, which received full planning approval from Southwark Council earlier this year, comprises three Foster + Partners-designed buildings, two with over 400 new homes and one with 800K SF of sustainable office space.
As a result, CBRE forecast that by the end of the decade, Southbank will have more office stock than the wider London Docklands market, including Canary Wharf.
Southbank is expected to see annual rental growth rates of 4.7% between 2025 and 2029, with prime rents expected to rise to £100.50 per SF by the end of 2029, up £20.50 per SF over the five-year period, behind only the City submarket in terms of rental growth.
