Barclays Bank snaps up Dublin office space

Property investor Green Reit has confirmed it has signed an agreement with Barclays Bank to lease space at one of its developments.

The UK bank has signed a 20 year lease for 37,000sq ft of space at the Iseq-listed property investor's flagship development, One Molesworth Street.

The letting covers two and a half floors of a total of five floors of office space, with Barclays having an option on a further half floor which, if taken, would bring the letting to some 45,000sq ft.

The annual rent for the 20 year lease is €2.35 million - which equates to €670 per sq m - with Barclays entitled to a market level rent free period at the beginning of the lease. The UK-bank has an option to break the lease at the end of the year 12.

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"We are delighted to have secured our first office letting at One Molesworth Street, our flagship building at the heart of Dublin's central business district, and to have secured such a high calibre tenant as Barclays," said Paul Culhane of Green Reit.

Barclays’ new offices will be capable of accommodating more than 400 staff. The bank’s existing office is located at Park Place on Hatch Street where it rents over 1,393sq m (15,000sq ft).

The two dimensional block was designed by Henry J Lyons and is planned to have one of the best fitouts in the city. Like the ground floor retail area, the offices have been designed to deliver maximum flexibility with bright expansive floor plates featuring floor-to-ceiling glazing on all four sides of the building.

One Molesworth Street looks set to bring in an overall rental income of around €5 million for Green Reit and to trigger a higher than expected capital value because of the tenant line up, the impressive finish planned for the building and its prime location opposite Hibernian Way.

The further use of Barclays Irish unit, which has about 100 staff, will allow the bank to offer banking services in other European Union countries under "passporting" rules. Post-Brexit, it is expected that these rules will no longer be extended to UK-based banks.

In a client note, Goodbody analyst Colm Lauder wrote that the agreed lease terms were considerably ahead of earlier estimates.

“We expect the One Molesworth scheme could add €34 million in profits as it completed, ahead of earlier expectations that this development would deliver €29 million,” he added.