THE FINANCIAL services group Citibank looks set to rent up to 6,307sq m (67,888sq ft) at EastPoint Business Park in the Dublin docklands after a five-month search for additional space.
The principals behind the newly developed Burlington Plaza office scheme on Burlington Road have apparently accepted that they are no longer in the running for the Citibank office letting. The financial group is one of a number of international companies looking to expand in Dublin.
Earlier this year Citi announced plans to create 250 additional jobs in Dublin and Waterford, bringing its staff numbers in Ireland close to 2,500. The bank occupies 18,580sq m (200,000sq ft) of offices at North Wall Quay in the IFSC where it is the largest employer. It first opened its Dublin base 45 years ago.
If Citi confirms its intention to rent the Pinnacle 2 block in EastPoint, it will be paying in the region of €150 per sq m (€14 per sq ft) for space in the six-storey, 10,219sq m (110,000sq ft) building, one of two newly developed blocks overlooking the port tunnel. The letting agent is Deirdre Costello of Jones Lang LaSalle.
EastPoint’s lower than average rents in the docklands has helped it to attract a considerable number of international tenants in recent years, including Yahoo, Google, Oracle, and Cisco.
The letting agents for Burlington Plaza were quoting a rent of around €32 per sq m (€30 per sq ft) for the two phase scheme where Bank of Ireland will be the largest tenant. James Nugent, who is advising Citibank, declined to comment.
Another major bank looking for a new Dublin headquarters, BNY Mellon, is now expected to choose between four sites in docklands.
One of these is the partially built block in the north docklands which was to have been a new HQ for Anglo Irish Bank.
A second site is closeby at Treasury Holdings’ Spencer Dock while a third plot at City Quay is owned by Seán Dunne’s Mountbrook Group. A completed office block at Grand Canal Square is also under consideration.
BNY Mellon is likely to need around 18,850sq m (202,900sq ft).
Yet another bank – this time the Central Bank – is also in the market for between 5,574 and 12,935sq m (60,000 and 139,231sq ft) and, given its role in the banking crisis, will be anxious not to incur the wrath of politicians by opening yet another stand-alone operation in the city.
Also looking for more office space – but this time in the south Dublin suburbs – Arvato is understood to have narrowed its preference to an office block at Cherrywood owned by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and another one developed by Derek O’Leary and Reg Tuttle at Red Oak North, South County Business Park, Dublin 18.
Arvato, which provides digital services and solutions for high-tech companies, is looking to rent a block of 6,038sq m (65,000sq ft). Rents in both cases are likely to be pitched around €139/€150 per sq m (€13/€14 per sq ft).
Dublin’s office letting market has been the busiest sector of the commercial property market during the tough conditions of the past three years. This year alone, overall lettings are expected to reach around 157,935sq m (1.7 million sq ft).
