Lucent opts to anchor Cherrywood science park

Giant US computer company Lucent Technologies is to be the first major anchor tenant to move into Cherrywood Science and Technology Park, at Cabinteely, Co Dublin. The decision by the company to opt for the first building of 63,000 sq ft is a major coup for Dunloe Ewart, which is developing the 100-acre park on part of its 400-acre development site. Lucent, which has a manufacturing base in Bray, will be paying almost £1 million rent for the three-storey building and 180 car-parking spaces. The company will relocate its GSM software development and financial services to the new plant, an air conditioned building at the entrance to the park which is due to be completed next December.

Lucent also rents the former ABN Amro bank premises on St Stephen's Green as its European headquarters. The location of the park, between the Dublin-Rosslare N11 and the proposed South-east Motorway, is understood to have played an important part in Lucent's decision to settle for Cherrywood, where it is to employ about 450 people.

The science park is a joint venture between Dunloe Ewart and Dun Laoghaire and Rathdown County Council and will eventually have about 1.2 million sq ft of space with an end value of around £400 million.

P.J Hegarty is the main contractors for the first phase of the park, which will include another threestorey building with 55,000 sq ft suitable for multiple occupancy on a floor by floor basis. It is due to be completed later this year. Joint agents Harrington Bannon and Jones Lang LaSalle are quoting a rent of £17 per sq ft. Neill Love of Druker Fanning advised Lucent.

Noel Murray, director of Dunloe Ewart, described the agreement with Lucent as a very significant development for the park.

The first phase of the science and technology park will be concentrated on a 60-acre site on one side of the Wyatville link road, which is currently being built. The remaining 40 acres are on the opposite side of the road. A further 32 acres are zoned for a district centre, which is likely to include a significant volume of retail space, hotels, cinemas and office accommodation. Dunloe Ewart would have no difficulty in finding a partner to fund any of these developments, if it decides to go down that road.

With commercial development sites in south Dublin particularly scarce, Cherrywood has soared in value because of its strategic location and development potential. A leading UK company, DEGW, which is preparing a masterplan for the remaining sections of the science and technology park and the district centre, was responsible for the layout of London's much acclaimed Stockley Park, near Heathrow Airport. Co Wexford housebuilders, William Neville and Sons, has started the residential element of the Cherrywood site, which will have almost 1,300 acres.

The company recently exercised its option to acquire an additional 42 acres of Cherrywood for £5 million - a price set more than five years ago when the land was owned by Monarch Propeties.

An illustration of the block at Cherrywood Science and Technology Park, where Lucent Technologies will pay almost £1 million in rent for 63,000 sq ft of high-tech space. The company is to relocate its software development and financial services to the park, which is a joint venture between Dunloe Ewart and Dun Laoghaire and Rathdown County Council