Twitter is to pay rent of around €5m a year for a new office in Dublin that it will move into next year.
Twitter is moving its Dublin offices around the corner from its current base on Pearse Street to a new 85,000 sq ft premises that it is sub-letting from Hibernia REIT plc. It will pay close to €5m a year for the new office space.
Hibernia acquired Cumberland House, an office building with around 112,000 sq ft of lettable area and 213 car parking spaces on a 1.6 acre site, for €49m in March 2015 having initially provided a short-term loan secured on the property.
As part of the agreement with Twitter, Hibernia will refurbish the entire building at a cost of up to €27m ahead of expected lease commencement in the second half of 2016.
It is understood that Twitter, which employs around 200 people in Dublin, will occupy all of the office space at Cumberland House with the exception of the fifth and sixth floors.
Twitter Dublin is flying the nest
The San Francisco-headquartered company will pay initial rent of €4.6m a year, which equals an average of €50 per square foot of office space.
Twitter will take 140 car-parking spaces for 140 characters who work at the social media giant in Dublin.
Twitter is taking a 20-year lease with tenant-only break options after 12 and 15 years.
The news comes as Dublin’s digital aspirations are being challenged by an increasing shortage of available office space.
“The building is excellently located in the heart of Dublin between Pearse Street Railway Station and Merrion Square and once refurbished will offer over 112,000 sq ft. of first class office space with the potential of further expansion in future,” Kevin Nowlan, chief executive of WK Nowlan REIT Management said.
“Once fully let we expect the building to generate a yield on cost of at least 8pc.”
