Office Lettings:The giant pharmaceutical group Pfizer is to move part of its Dublin operation to a long- vacant office building backing on to Shelbourne Park greyhound track in Ringsend, Dublin 4.

Almost two years after it first looked at the Watermarque Building, Pfizer has agreed in principle to lease around half the overall space of 9,969sq m (107,320sq ft) and about 50 car-parking spaces.

The company is likely to be paying just short of €430 per sq m (€40 per sq ft) and €3,500 for car-parking spaces. The now standard 25-year lease usually provides for a break option in year 10. Pfizer will be moving 350 staff involved in its Global Financial Shared Services (Europe) operation at Grand Canal Plaza to Ringsend. Pfizer employs about 1,000 staff in Dublin and Cork, and is best known for its manufacture of Viagra. The company will occupy one half of the Ringsend block, leaving the other part available for another company. The rent is likely to be around €484 per sq m (€45 per sq ft).

The Watermarque building was built more than four years ago by Green Property Company and, when it failed to find a tenant, it sold it on early in 2006 to property developer Sean Reilly for just over €54 million.

Green still managed to show a modest profit on the transaction, even though it spent €10 million on acquiring the site and a further €30 million on the construction of the five-storey block. The car-park is in the basement.

Since buying the block, Reilly has managed to soften the overall appearance by planting mature trees along the facade and reconfiguring the entrance.

Separately, Reilly is well advanced on the development of a 100-acre business park alongside a new hotel at City North on the M1 near Dublin Airport.