IDA Ireland plans to move HQ to Hatch Street in 2019

The lease on the agency’s Wilton Park House building ends next year

Three Park Place on Hatch Street, Dublin - the  new location for IDA Ireland’s  headquarters.
Three Park Place on Hatch Street, Dublin - the new location for IDA Ireland’s headquarters.

IDA Ireland is planning to move its headquarters to Hatch Street, Dublin, after the lease on its current offices in Wilton Park House run out in 2019.

The agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment to Ireland has selected Three Park Place on Upper Hatch Street in Dublin 2 as its preferred option for its new headquarters.

The location was chosen following a tender process and is dependent upon the completion of “legal and technical due diligence”, the agency said in a statement.

Three other agencies will join the IDA when it moves to Hatch Street including the Science Foundation Ireland, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Marine Institute. The IDA conducted the property search on behalf of those agencies "in order to achieve the best value and benefit from economies of scale".

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"The new location at Three Park Place will provide IDA Ireland with an excellent location from which to market to global investors and will enable us to bring the organisation through the next phase of growth and pursue its vision of being the best and most successful investment promotion agency in the world," said Martin Shanahan, IDA Ireland chief executive.

“IDA Ireland announced last week that 210,443 people now go to work every day in over 1,300 foreign direct investment companies – foreign investors continue to see Ireland as a great location to invest,” he added.

The investment agency is planning to occupy the upper floors of the facility, which was designed by architects BKD and has efficient floors, typically extending to 1,966sq m (21,000sq ft). The move will put them beside client companies including Dropbox, Slack and Bently Systems.

In 2016, when the project was being marketed, joint agents Knight Frank and BNP Paribas Real Estate were quoting rents of €700 per sq m (€65 per sq ft). It is understood the new tenants in the building will be paying a similar rent.

The Wilton Park House building, which the agency has occupied since 1985, is owned by Irish property fund Iput. That building is located beside the LinkedIn office in Ireland, which is owned by real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson.

Peter Hamilton

Peter Hamilton

Peter Hamilton is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in business