£40m offices for Dublin's inner city

Work is due to commence shortly on a major new £40 million (€50.79m) office development with attractive tax incentives for investors and owner-occupiers adjacent to the newly opened Bord Gβis ╔ireann offices in Dublin 1.

Foley Street in the North East Inner City area is the location for this new 183,000 sq ft complex and is the second phase of a development by Macushla Property Development Ltd. The first phase of 35,000 sq ft of offices was purchased by Bord Gβis, which is understood to have paid in the region of £12.5 million (€15.87m).

Close to the IFSC, Foley Street is bordered by Talbot Street and Corporation Street to the South and Amiens Street and Buckingham Street Lower to the north. There will be six blocks of five and six-storey office buildings with a total of 183,000 sq ft of floor space. There will also be 90 parking spaces within the development. Rents will be pitched in the region of £30 (€38.09) per sq ft.

To date Allen & Townsend, agents for the development, have received a strong level of enquiries with 25,000 sq ft of space reserved by one tenant and a further 50,000 sq ft of space at advanced negotiation stage.

The location close to the IFSC and Connolly Station would be convenient for IFSC-based companies looking to acquire additional space close by as operations expand.

Bank of Ireland has just occupied a 55,000 sq ft office development at the Talbot Street end of Foley Street.

The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) is currently redeveloping the nearby Alderborough House as its new headquarters.

Once a neglected area of the city centre, the streets around Connolly Station have benefited not only from redevelopment but also from the renewed confidence which has established the area as new growth centre.

The North East Inner City (NEIC) is one of the areas identified and targeted for redevelopment under Dublin Corporation's Integrated Area Projects (IAPs).

A number of initiatives, including the identification of targeted sites for tax incentives and the introduction of the Living Over The Shop scheme, have driven the urban regeneration project.

The Macushla development on Foley Street is one of the targeted sites within the IAP, attracting the maximum 100 per cent capital allowance incentive for investors and owner-occupiers. Infrastructure in the area is modern, benefiting from proximity to the IFSC. A multimedia fibre-optic network carrying some of the most sophisticated broadband services in the State will run directly down nearby Amiens Street.

Architect for the development is Laughton Tyler, which also designed the adjacent Bord Gβis ╔ireann building.

The office development centres around an internal urban landscaped space, with access from all office blocks. This is designed as an inner urban park, with access from the Foley Street/Beaver Street junction via a four-storey double curved glass and steel entrance.

The area is also seeing a number of new private residential apartment schemes.