Office Market: The Carphone Warehouse, the country's largest independent retailer of mobile phones, has moved its Irish headquarters into newly developed offices at Omni Park shopping centre in Santry, Dublin 9.
Head of property at the Carphone Warehouse, David McKenna, said that the company had undergone tremendous growth in the last year. The company had expanded from 34 stores last August to its present level of 49 stores. Its 50th store will open shortly in Shop Street, Galway, and this number will increase to nearly 60 by the end of 2006. As a result of this ongoing expansion, it needed to operate out of larger offices to support its growing number of 350 store employees.
The Carphone Warehouse will occupy 1,189sq m (12,798sq ft) of office accommodation at an annual rent of €188.36 per sq m (€17.50 per sq ft) together with 20 car-parking spaces at €650 each per annum.
"This letting indicates the value to be had by companies leasing space in modern offices in an area - close to the city and the airport - which is destined to become even more popular with the planned construction of the metro from Dublin Airport to the city centre in 2009," said Keith O'Neill of Jones Lang LaSalle, which negotiated the letting on behalf of Omni.
Omni Park is within easy reach of the M1, the M50 and the Port Tunnel, which is due to open in November, and is well served by public transport. The offices also have the benefit of the shopping centre with its wide range of retail outlets and leisure activities, including the 2,000-seat and 11-screen Omniplex cinema.
Jones Lang LaSalle and its joint agents, Mason Owen and Lyons, are currently marketing the second floor of the office building which contains high-spec suites ranging in size from 350-1,500sq m (3,767-16,146sq ft).
