THE ESB is to pay a reverse premium of around £250,000 to assign its leasehold interest in an office block at 72/73 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2. The 26,000-square-foot building is expected to be taken over by officials of the Department of Finance.
The ESB is paying a rent of £300,000 for the four-storey building under a 35-year lease, which has another 18 years to run. Half of the space had been sub-let to Telecom Eireann up to last summer. The Office of Public Works is to refurbish the building, which is owned by the Guinness Staff Pension Fund.
The ESB is expected to vacate a further 40,000 square feet of rented office space over the next five years when headquarters staff is reduced by about 300.
The Department of Finance officials moving to Lower Mount Street are vacating Agriculture House in Kildare Street. Officials of the Department of Agriculture are likely to be transferred to the FAS building in Lower Baggot Street. The Government has already decided to hand over Agriculture House to members of the Oireachtas.
