The Wellness Games are an annual London Wide sporting event for the over 55’s. Teams are entered on a borough basis and this is the first time that the event has been held in Lambeth with a Lambeth team taking part.

Mayor of Lambeth visiting the Wellness Games at Brixton Recreation Centre

Along with visiting the games, chatting to team members from Lambeth and other boroughs it was a great opportunity to visit the leisure centre that I used to use regularly when I lived in Brixton but had not seen since its refurbishment.

Mayor of Lambeth with the Mayor of Greenwich who was also visiting the games

Everyone was having a great time and it was clear that the games were hugely popular.

Mayor of Lambeth with one of the entrants to the Wellness Games

By Joe Clements
BOSTON—Providing a measure of confidence to the city’s downtown, GLL Real Estate Partners has agreed to buy One Winthrop Sq., with industry sources claiming the German investment fund has inked a purchase-and-sale contract to secure the five-story, 115,000-sf office building. Sources peg the price in excess of $21 million.
GLL was named a frontrunner in a previous edition of The Real Reporter last month, but achieving an actual P&S has become an uncertain exercise in the depressed investment climate. The transaction is being guided by Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Group, members of which did not return phone calls regarding the GLL reports. The team is led by Robert E. Griffin Jr., Marci Griffith Loeber and Edward C. Maher Jr.
A GLL official declined comment when contacted by The Real Reporter, but multiple sources claim the investor has indeed committed to One Winthrop Sq. “It is signed,” one source close to the deal concurs, while another calls that notion “correct.” GLL has already demonstrated an affinity for the Hub, last year buying 200 State St. near Faneuil Hall for $167 million and capping 2008 by paying $36 million for 70 Franklin St. One Winthrop Sq. is being sold by the RREEF Funds, which has owned the building since buying it in a portfolio deal in 2005.
If reports are accurate, GLL will be acquiring One Winthrop Sq. for less than $200 per sf., While a discount from the $217-per-sf figure initially sought by RREEF, and well below the $400 per sf that other so-called “jewel box” buildings have commanded in recent years, observers say a stable tenant roster and other factors helped prevent the asset from eroding further in price. “It’s encouraging,” says one market watcher who cites the building’s location as another strong point, especially for a patient owner such as GLL is touted for being in its vast portfolio.
The timing for a closing was not made available, but one source expressed optimism the deal will be finished by the end of the second quarter. If so, the sale would be among the largest in Boston this year.