(Bloomberg) -- State Street Corp. is in talks to lease a new UK headquarters in the City of London financial district, a deal that would see it move away from its long-standing base in Canary Wharf. 

The US asset management giant is negotiating to rent 100 New Bridge Street, an office being redeveloped by Helical Plc and Orion Capital Managers, people with knowledge of the proposed deal said. 

It is in talks to lease the entire building, which once complete will span about 190,000 square feet (17,652 square meters), the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private. 

“Our current lease in Canary Wharf continues through 2028,” a State Street spokesperson wrote in an email. “As we do with our entire real estate portfolio, we will continue to evaluate our needs globally.” 

Representatives for Helical and Orion declined to comment.

A deal would see State Street join a list of long-time tenants that have chosen to vacate Canary Wharf in recent years including HSBC Holdings Plc, Moody’s Corp. and  Clifford Chance. All of them have signed for space in the more centrally located City of London district. 

Still, the churn has not been just one-way. The University College London School of Management agreed to extend and expand its existing lease in Canary Wharf earlier this month, fintech Revolut Ltd. has signed for a new and larger headquarters in the area and key tenants Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc have both extended their leases.

State Street’s existing premises at 20 Churchill Place was bought by Brookfield Asset Management in a roughly £250 million ($308 million) deal agreed in the midst of the pandemic in late 2021. The firm had previously entered negotiations to buy the building from funds managed by M&G Plc in early 2020 when it was on sale for £300 million but those talks initially broke down as the pandemic unleashed a wave of uncertainty for the future of London’s real estate market. 

Together with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Brookfield also owns Canary Wharf Group, the company that developed and still owns the majority of the east London financial district. Its embarked on a long term project to pivot away from banking tenants who have been shrinking their London footprints ever since the global financial crisis. Instead, it has focused on adding apartments, entertainment, retail and dining options that have lured more visitors to the area and kept it busy outside of office hours. 

But the vast size of the original offices built on the estate has made modernizing vacant buildings a challenge for other less-well-capitalized landlords, given the overhauling costs and an uncertain outlook for office demand. The owner of 5 Churchill Place, the office next door to State Street’s existing London headquarters, lost control of the building and the administrators appointed have yet to find a buyer almost two-years on. 

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