FACEBOOK, THE leading social networking site, is to embark on a further expansion of its international headquarters in Dublin by leasing additional office space in the south docklands.
The company has agreed to rent a further 1,021sq m (11,000sq ft) in the Hanover Reach block, which overlooks many of the highlights of the area, including the Grand Canal Dock and Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.
The expansion will mean that Facebook will now occupy all but one of the six floors in the 5,696sq m (61,311sq ft) Hanover Reach, a prestigious office scheme completed about four years ago by Francis Rhatigan and Chris Jones of Ellier Developments. The initial rent level of €376 per sq m (€35 per sq ft) is likely to have slipped to around €322 per sq m (€30 per sq ft) for the most recent letting, in line with the decline in Dublin office rents.
There was initially intense competition between a handful of Dublin office developers to hook up with Facebook – one of them even offered a building rent free for five years – because of the company’s international profile and the prospects that it could grow from an initial office space of only 464sq m (5,000sq ft) into an entire block.
That may not be too far away as the Dublin operation is already providing a range of online technical, sales and operations support to Facebook’s users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Facebook employs 280 staff in Dublin and is currently recruiting additional personnel.
Another high-tech company, Google, has blazed a trail in the Dublin office market. It originally took a single building of 5,574sq m (60,000sq ft) on Barrow Street in 2004 and within a year it had leased in a second block of 9,290sq m (100,000sq ft). Last year it acquired not only the two blocks but another newly completed building, Montevetro, at an overall cost of around €200 million.
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