Pensions funds buy 50% of Swords Business Park

Canada Life and the Irish Pension Fund Property Unit Trust have acquired a 50 per cent stake in Swords Business Park, a 12-acre, high-tech office development which is expected to have an end value of more than £50 million.

The two funds are understood to have paid £15 million for their stake in the original park but will also have to fund a phased development, which will be jointly owned by their partners. Two years ago, Island Associates, a company controlled by businessmen Tony Tyrrell and John Flynn, paid £14 million for the complex, which includes the 270,000 sq. ft former Motorola plant. This building has since been redeveloped to provide high-tech offices with air-conditioning and raised access floors.

One of the main features of the park will be an advanced telecommunications system with copper and fibre supply from two different directions, an electricity supply from two separate networks and a choice of communications providers.

The first two tenants, who have each rented 40,000 sq ft units, are Synstar, an information technology disaster technology company, and ClientLogic, which is also involved in the information technology area. Two other international companies are in negotiations to rent a further 80,000 sq. ft at around £14 to £15 per sq. ft.

The letting agents report strong interest in the park, which will have 1,200 car-parking spaces, a crΦche, restaurant and a medical centre. The grounds are being tastefully landscaped to underline the high quality of the buildings. Opening the park yesterday, the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, predicted that the campus would be a major boost to employment in north Dublin. By 2003, she said, it was expected that up to 1,750 people would be employed here in the information technology and call centre sectors.

She described the opening as "continued proof of the strength of the IT industry".

Tony Tyrrell said the campus was one of the most strategically located business parks in Dublin, just two miles from the airport and the nearby junctions of the M50 and the M1. It is planned to run a shuttle bus service to and from Malahide train station, Swords town centre and Sutton DART station.

Following the sale of its 12 year old plant, Motorola moved to smaller premises on a nearby site.

The joint agents are DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, Gunne Commercial and Palmer McCormack. Paul O'Dwyer is architect for the scheme.