City Tower is a 20-story, 133,000-square-foot office just south of London Wall. The building is leased to 30 tenants, and is 16% vacant, with an average rent of $38.24 per square foot.

Great Portland purchased City Place House from Episo CPH LP, an entity of European Property Investors Special Opportunities LP, a property investment fund co-managed by AEW Europe and Tristan Capital Partners. Prupim and Cleary Gottlieb are two of the tenants of the 177,000-square-foot office, which is 100% leased to seven companies. The average lease is $57.97 per square foot, according to a statement by Great Portland, with a current annual rental income of $8.8 million. "Our intention is to refurbish the common parts and floors as appropriate, repositioning the building into a potential shortage of grade A space in the city from 2011," said a company spokesman.

The firm will asset manage the joint venture and will pursue a wide variety of value enhancing options, according to a Great Portland statement, ranging from short-term asset management to longer term, comprehensive redevelopment. It is likely that non-recourse debt financing will be arranged for the JV, according to the statement.

Ric Lewis, Tristan chief executive, said in a separate statement that the sale brought gains to his investors. "There has been significant interest in recent months in the UK and the market has attracted stellar buyers. We remain interested in the UK because quality assets are still available if you know where to find them," he said.