Alleged structural defects and security issues have made almost a quarter of one of the tallest office buildings in the State difficult to lease, the owners of the building have said.
In an appeal over how commercial rates would be calculated for the 17-storey Exo Building in Dublin’s docklands, the Platform ICAV said a net annual value (Nav) of €1 million applied to vacant floors by the commissioner of valuation was “excessive and inequitable”.
Commercial rates for office blocks are calculated by multiplying a property’s Nav by the annual rate on valuation. The Platform ICAV has successfully appealed the €1 million value applied to the Exo Building, with the amount reduced to €933,000 by the Valuations Tribunal.
Tailte Éireann’s first valuation of the Exo Building was based on a rate of €260 per sq m, the same price attached to office blocks including 4 & 5 Dublin Landings and 1 Windmill Lane, Dublin 2.
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In appeal documents, CBRE head of business rates Terry Devlin, acting on behalf of Exo Building’s owners, said the offices of “similar standard and specification” were given Nav valuations of €240 per sq m
He added that the building was difficult to let because it was “slightly isolated” as one of the most easterly offices in the docklands.
The building also “suffered from security issues” every two days when events were taking place in the 3Arena and proximity to the venue led to the inconvenience of navigating queues to access the building.
Devlin also submitted that the remaining office spaces were “difficult sizes” for prospective tenants, “being too large at approximately 16,000sq ft on the third floor and the other remaining vacant floors were too small”.
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The building owners have marketed Exo Building office space as having “stunning panoramic views of Dublin”. The appeal said the view from the third floor “just looked at the 3Arena”.
The Valuations Tribunal also considered “alleged defects” with the building’s glazing.
Last year, the main contractor behind the Exo Building, Bennett (Construction) Limited, sued a Spanish contractor for €7.4 million over the alleged defects in the block. Devlin said the legal action was ongoing.
The appeal to the Valuations Tribunal added a bolt had “sheared off the external frame at eighth floor level and had fallen on to the glazed canopy below”.
The building contractor and steel supplier have started an investigation into the matter and each bolt “all over the building had to be tested and retested”.
These issues “were putting potential tenants off the building” noted appeal documents.
The tribunal struck out the €1 million Nav and reduced the valuation. It said the building’s location “at the extreme end of the quays does not constitute a more desirable location” than comparable buildings. The block, which was Dublin’s tallest office building when it was completed in 2022, is occupied by tenants including An Post, Yahoo and Ancestry.
