Salesforce Inks Largest Office Lease in Ireland

Spencer Place

Spencer Place Development Co. Ltd., a joint venture of Ronan Group Real Estate and investment vehicles managed by Colony Capital Inc., has secured the largest-ever office lease in Ireland, as Salesforce has agreed to take all 430,000 square feet of office space at Spencer Place, now under way in Dublin’s Docklands, the JV announced Monday.

Spencer Place is a mixed-use project that will eventually include more than 1 million square feet of office, hotel and residential space. Salesforce has leased all four interconnected office buildings as its new EMEA regional hub.

Construction of Spencer Place began in 2016 and is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2020. The project is aiming for a LEED v4.1 Platinum energy rating, more than 600 bicycle parking spaces, a Wired Certified Platinum rating from WiredScore and NZEB (nearly zero-energy building) compliance.

Spencer Place Development was advised by Knight Frank, and Salesforce was advised by Cushman & Wakefield.

Simultaneously but separately, Dalata Hotel Group of Dublin, Ireland’s largest hotel group, has entered into a lease for a 200-plus guest room hotel at Spencer Place. Opening is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2020. Dalata will operate the hotel under a 35-year operating lease.

Two records in a row

RGRE and Colony Capital also held the previous record for a single office lease in Ireland. That deal involved Facebook taking the entire 350,000-square-foot Fibonacci Square project in Ballsbridge as their new EMEA headquarters building in November 2018.

Last October, Colony Capital’s Colony Industrial affiliate bought a nine-property, 890,000-square-foot industrial portfolio in suburban Atlanta for an undisclosed sum.

The Dublin office market saw record absorption — 3.9 million square feet — in 2018, with tech tenants taking the majority of that space, according to a report released earlier this month by JLL.

Rents remain stable for now, but the Dublin market remains tilted in favor of landlords. Average vacancy decreased to 7.4 percent, and although 4 million square feet of space is under construction or renovation, roughly half of that space is preleased.