LaSalle Investment Management has acquired a 8,970 m2 office complex in the City of London for £47 mln (EUR 54 mln). Part of the development will be let on a long-term lease to UK hotel and leisure operator Whitbread. The remaining part will be leased as office space.

The development at 2 Dorset Rise in Blackfriars has been let to Whitbread on a 31-year lease and will be converted into a 258-room Premier Inn hotel. LaSalle will fund the £9.3 mln (EUR 10.8 mln) conversion costs.

The building at 1 Dorset Rise will be refurbished and leased as an stand-alone complex offering 1280 m2 of office space. Construction on the project is expected to start in November and the Premier Inn is scheduled to open in summer 2012.

LaSalle acquired the offices from Greenhills Asset Management and chartered surveyors John Miles & Co acted on behalf of the buyer.