Office InvestmentThe FAI's elegant city HQ - which it is leaving this autumn to move to Abbotstown, west Dublin - was once the home of Unionist leader Sir Edward Carson. Jack Faganreports

The Football Association of Ireland is to sell its headquarters at 80 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, where it has been based for more than half a century.

Iain Finnegan of agent Finnegan Menton is guiding €6.5 million for the Georgian house, one of the few remaining properties on the southern side of the square with its entire rear garden and a mews fronting on to Fitzwilliam Lane. A few doors away, businessman Dermot Desmond has restored a similar house for residential use.

The FAI is moving to a new headquarters at Abbotstown, west Dublin, next autumn and by delaying the closing of the sale until then will also be be facilitating potential purchasers. The four-storey over basement building, which goes to tender on June 21st, has a floor area of 431sq m (4,635sq ft). There is also a garage to the rear of 153sq m (1,645sq ft), parking for 18 cars and a two-storey mews office of 74sq m (795sq ft).

Finnegan Menton says that while the main building has been well maintained by the FAI, it will require a certain amount of refurbishment and upgrading.

The market for well-located Georgian offices, particularly on Merrion Square, has been particularly strong in recent months as small and medium-sized firms opt for elegant office space in prime locations.

Number 80 Merrion Square was built in 1786 by Sir Gustavus Hume. It was later home to Edward Carson, a campaigner against Home Rule, who also bought "a fine house in Dalkey", Monte Alverno on Sorrento Road. By an amazing coincidence, both houses are now for sale at the same time.