Commercial rents for prestige offices in the centre of Dublin have topped €1m (£833,180) a year, the country’s new lease register has revealed.
Ireland’s Property Services Regulatory Authority’s online Commercial Leases Register went live last month [November] and immediately highlighted the fact that several of the capital’s high-profile leases had already topped the seven figure mark.
Dublin’s highest annual rent is the €1.25m (£1.04m) being paid by the British outsourcing company, Capita, for its Irish headquarters in Grand Canal Square. Last year Capita signed a 10-year lease on a new home for its financial services and registrars businesses.
Not far behind is Sky, the satellite television broadcaster and distributor. It is paying €1.12m (£933,162) a year for its fourth and fifth floor offices at 1 Burlington Plaza. The register shows the global entertainment giant signed a 10-years lease in 2012, with a 12-month rent-free period beginning at the start of the sixth year to coincide with a review and break clause.
Both rents point the way to what new city centre leaseholders are likely to pay, among them the social media group Facebook and the law firm, William Fry, which intends moving to offices on Grand Canal Square just yards from the Capita building. Work on refitting an adjoining block as Facebook’s new European headquarters, and which has been situated in Dublin for years, is already underway.
All three Dublin 4 blocks were built by Chartered Land under the supervision of Mama, the state assets agency. The last was completed in 2010.
Other nationwide leases on the register are more modest. An office at 3 Harbourmaster Place in the capital’s International Financial Services Centre was leased for seven years and eight months last August for an average annual rent of €168,028 (£139,997).
And a ground floor store in the Jervis Centre shopping mall on the city’s Northside was leased recently for 15 years for an annual rent of €67,500 (£56,239). A first floor kiosk at the same complex has an average annual charge of €37,000 (£30,827) for a four-year, nine month lease.
Across the country in Cork, an office on the South Mall, the traditional home of lawyers, accountants and financial service companies, was leased within the past 12 months for an annual rent of €51,125 (£42,596). Not far away, on Union Quay, one of the west coast city’s internationally known pubs, The Phoenix Bar, is being leased for 10 years at €29,960 a year (£24,962).
Praising its transparency, the chairman of Ireland’s Society of Chartered Surveyors says the main beneficiaries of the recently introduced register will be the tenants, who provide the information it uses and shares.
“This was a key step in bringing fairer dealings to this country’s commercial property market,” added Eamonn Maguire.
Information such as the address, start date for leases, the average annual rent and the agreement’s duration can be checked for free. A €10 (£8.30) search fee provides additional information including a detailed breakdown of a lease’s terms and conditions. The register does not, however, name the landlords or tenants involved in any of the agreements.
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