America Online is to rent a new 65,000 sq ft custom-built block at Citywest Business Campus, on the Naas Road, in west Dublin, alongside its existing facility there at an annual rent of £1.2 million. It will be located in the new Digital Park and will consist of two interlocking two-storey buildings of 4,300 sq m (46,000 sq ft) and 1,750 sq m (19,000 sq ft) with 221 car parking spaces. AOL will concentrate all of its Irish operations in Citywest with the move; some of its activities are currently located at East Point Business Park. The multinational Internet company already employs several hundred people in Ireland in a range of activities from interactive services to web brands, Net technologies and e-commerce services.
The new facility is being built by Davy Hickey Properties, the developers of Citywest, and is due to be completed by the end of this year. The agreement includes an option by AOL on an adjoining site at Citywest which is capable of providing a further 6,000 sq m of space. Bill Tuite of Jones Lang LaSalle advised Citywest Business Campus and Nigel Aslin of Strutt and Parker's Corporate Real Estate Department acted for AOL in the transaction.