Irish Life pre-funds €125m City Quay development

Irish Life is to pre-fund a €125 million development in City Quay in the Docklands area of Dublin, due for completion next year.

The 10,962sq m (118,000sq ft) development, at 13-18 City Quay, will employ up to 350 people during its delivery.

Ownership of the building, which has already been let to Grant Thornton, will transfer to Irish Life on its completion from City Development Fund, which is a sub-fund of Targeted Investment Opportunities (TIO) .

“We are delighted to get the City Quay project off the ground and look forward to seeing it through to completion. The pre-let to Grant Thornton and pre-funding agreement with Irish Life is further evidence of the strong fundamentals in the Dublin office market,” said Justin Bickle, chairman of TIO.

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Portfolio

“We have invested significant capital in Irish real estate in the past five years and continue to believe in Ireland’s economic growth prospects and job creation opportunities.”

Among City Developments’ other projects is 8 Hanover Quay, now the European headquarters of Airbnb. TIO has also begun the development of 5 Hanover Quay, due for completion next year, and 76 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, which includes office space and apartments.

Irish Life has been building up its property portfolio in recent years, acquiring €1 billion of direct property in the past four years. That includes Velasco, Grand Canal Street, Dublin 2, and Hume House, Ballsbridge. It is also developing 1GQ at Georges Quay and is involved in a refurbishment at 2-4 Merrion Row.

“Upon completion 13-18 City Quay will be a state-of-the-art office building offering an environmentally sustainable and energy efficient work environment. The acquisition through forward funding of this core pre-let development nicely complements the high quality office stock in our portfolio, which has been reinvigorated through new acquisitions, refurbishment and development through the current cycle,” said Martin O’Reilly, head of property at Irish Life.