(Bloomberg) -- Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Citadel Securities will move their London base to a new office tower on the edge of the City of London, a major expansion of their space in the latest sign of the firm’s growing heft.

The billionaire’s hedge fund and market maker signed an agreement for space at 2 Finsbury Ave., according to a statement Thursday. The firms will lease more than 250,000 square feet (23,226 square meters). That’s a big jump from the firm’s current footprint in London, which totals 150,000 square feet at 120 London Wall and 1 Fore St., according to a spokesperson.

The businesses will relocate to the new development once it’s completed, which is expected to be in 2027. It also has an option to take up to 130,000 square feet more space on the British Land Co. and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte’s Broadgate campus.

Office markets including London have seen vacancies in older buildings rise as more companies allow employees to work from home. But newer and more environmentally friendly developments have drawn tenants seeking the best spaces and amenities to retain and attract employees. 

Griffin has been seeking out newer spaces in other cities. In Manhattan, he is moving forward with plans to build a 62-story skyscraper on Park Avenue to house his businesses. In 2022, Griffin announced Citadel and Citadel Securities would relocate their headquarters to Miami and build a new office tower in the South Florida city.

The leasing agreement paves the way for British Land and GIC to start main construction work at 2 Finsbury Ave., one of several offices vacated by UBS Group AG when the bank moved to new offices elsewhere on the 4.5 million square foot Broadgate campus. The development will consist of two skyscrapers, including a 36-story East Tower and a 21-story West Tower that’s linked by a 12-story podium.

Amenities include a 7,000-square-foot winter garden, shared terraces, lounges and an auditorium. Citadel’s deal accounts for about a third of the planned 750,000 square foot of space and the agreement includes an option for the hedge fund group to lease up to half of the building in total. 

About 9.6 million square feet of office space was leased in central London last year, down 8% on a year earlier, according to broker Cushman & Wakefield Plc. Still, large deals including HSBC Holdings Plc’s agreement to lease a new City of London headquarters meant the City of London market recorded its highest quarterly total since 2006 in the three months through December. About 9% of space was vacant as of the end of last year, the broker’s data show.

“This landmark pre-let is further proof of the strong demand for the modern, sustainable office space at our well-connected, amenity-rich London campuses,” British Land Chief Executive Officer Simon Carter said in a separate statement. 

--With assistance from Jack Sidders and Nishant Kumar.

(Updates with more details on current London footprint in second paragraph.)

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