'Docklands New Grand Canal Harbour opens for business in June

An important milestone will be marked in June when the first firms in the new Grand Canal Harbour open for business, writes Edel Morgan

Next month the first businesses will move in to Grand Canal Harbour, the former Bord Gáis 25-acre site in Dublin 4. Although already successful in terms of attracting big commercial names to its office blocks, it remains to be seen whether Grand Canal Harbour will emerge as the "vibrant" quarter as anticipated.

The plan is to include a mix of late night uses so the area won't succumb to the after-dark desolation that has afflicted parts of the north docklands.

The Ocean bar and restaurant at the bottom of Millennium Tower has been the lone operator in the vicinity but in June it will face competition from Wine & Co, a restaurant and wine shop being opened by the gregarious owner of the city centre Il Primo restaurant, Dieter Bergmann. Bergmann's restaurant will be situated on Grand Canal Quay, off the Pearse Street entrance to the scheme. Esquires Coffee will open beside it and a late night pharmacy run by Gráinne O'Leary will front Pearse Street.

Starbucks Coffee Company is rumoured to be looking for a suitable premises in the area, and agents Hooke & MacDonald and Palmer McCormack say "a well known publican" has reserved nearly 929sq m (10,000sq ft) of basement and ground floor space at HQ (Hanover Quay), although details are not yet finalised.

The harbour is at last taking shape but the first residents of the apartments, office and retail units will have to endure the drone of construction activity for another three years before the first section of the harbour site is complete. So far there are a number of buildings either under construction or close to completion.

Wine & Co and Esquires Coffee are opening in June in the ground floor of the Grand Canal Square building where rents are in the region of €861 per sq m (€80 per sq ft). Another double fronted waterfront retail unit is still available. The building by Ryde Developments also comprises 9,755sq m (105,002sq ft) of offices.

Behind that, Gallery Quay - a consortium by Alanis, Liberty Homes, Redquartz Development and Pierse Contracting - is part-built and, when finished next spring, will have 298 apartments, 980sq m (10,549sq ft) of retail space and 60 social housing units.

The south block of the HQ development by Sisk and Park Developments is complete and five ground floor retail units are available ranging in size from 50-92sq m (538-990sq ft) and quoting rents of between €30,000-€57,500 per annum.

The entire HQ scheme, when finished, will comprise 292 apartments, 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) of offices and 59 social housing units. The Dublin Dockland Development Authority (DDDA) will occupy a 951sq m (10,236sq ft) office suite in the north block facing the Liffey. One of the self-contained office suites has been reserved by an IT and recruitment company and another by a private buyer but a 190sq m (2,045sq ft) unit on the north block is still available which has been earmarked for art gallery uses. Offers in the region of €1.3 million are being sought.

Next door at Longboat Quay, Spar has reserved a 325sq m (3,500sq ft) corner retail unit and a restaurant operator is to take a 250sq m (2,691sq ft) unit at a rent believed to be the region of €150,000 per annum.

Longboat Quay is being developed by Michael McNamara and Corcoran Jennison and is due for completion next year. The office units range in size from 242-741sq m (2,604-7,976sq ft) and, according to the agents, have been reserved by accountancy firm, a media company and a professional association, although deals have yet to be finalised.

Rents are in the region of €6,780 per sq m (€630 per sq ft) and the 12 car-parking spaces cost €40,000 each.

Work is due to begin in the coming weeks on the 168-bed Le Meridien hotel designed by Portuguese architect Josep Lluis Mateo. His limestone design inspired by the Burren, is regarded as "stunning" by some although others describe it as reminiscent of a 1970s office block.

The office buildings Riverside I, the 11,000sq m (118,403sq ft) headquarters of McCann Fitzgerald, and Riverside II, 8,255sq m (88,8556sq ft) of offices and 124 apartments by Elliot & Co, are under construction and Mountbrook Homes has started work on Riverside IV.

A complex of three interlinking buildings with 55 apartments and 21,500sq m (231,426sq ft) of office space, rents at Riverside IV are being pitched in the region of €511 per sq m (€47.50 per sq ft).

One of Grand Canal Harbour's pull factors is undoubtedly its Dublin 4 location and proximity to the city centre which has attracted big names like Beauchamps, 02 and McCann Fitzgerald to the south docks. Matheson Ormsby Prentice (MOPS) and William Fry are expected to target the south docks because of the same considerations.

The agents for the Grand Canal Harbour say they are not overly concerned that the first businesses to open next month are taking a brave step into the unknown. They believe their proximity to Pearse Street and Barrow Street - where Google took 6,230sq m (67,059sq ft) in the Gasworks building and Mason Hayes and Curran have taken the nine-storey Treasury office building - will ensure their success.