Shops to rent at former newspaper HQ

Seven shops at the former headquarters of The Irish Times on D'Olier Street have come on the letting market.

Agent CBRE is quoting rents of €323 per sq m (€30 per sq ft) for ground floor space and €107.64 per sq m (€10 per sq ft) for first floor/basement space. The retail units range in size from 103sq m to 421sq m (1,109 to 4,532sq ft) and the agent is already in negotiations with a well-known restaurateur for one of them. “The retail units present an opportunity for specialist retailers to design a creative space in a unique and prominent city centre location,” according to CBRE.

Now known as The Times building, in memory of its previous occupant which moved out in October 2006, the property has been restored to retain many of its original features, including neo-Georgian facades.

The Irish Times put its then headquarters on D'Olier/Fleet Street up for sale in May 2006 for over €25 million. It was bought by Cavan-based builder P Elliott who got planning permission to turn it into a 8,247sq m (90,707sq ft) residential, shopping and office development.

When the newspaper occupied the buildings on a 0.44-acre site at 8-16 D’Olier Street and 24-27 Fleet Street, the overall floor area came to about 6,000sq m (64,584sq ft).

The Irish Times was based in the Westmoreland Street/Fleet Street/D'Olier Street triangle since 1895. Prior to that, it operated from premises on Lower Abbey Street, near Wynns Hotel, after its foundation in 1859.

US fund Kennedy Wilson acquired The Times building in August 2014 after it bought a portfolio of loans associated with the P Elliott group.

The Irish Aviation Authority houses 200 employees in all the upper floor office space.