New lease agreed at Harcourt Square

Hibernia REIT plc (“Hibernia”) announces that it has agreed a new non-renewable six year lease with the Office of Public Works (“OPW”) at Harcourt Square, commencing in January 2017.  The OPW will pay annual rent of €6.0m for the offices, car parking and ancillary facilities plus a one-off arrears payment of €0.5m. 

Hibernia acquired Harcourt Square in February 2015: the property comprises 117,000 sq. ft. of office accommodation and is fully let to the OPW and occupied by An Garda Síochána (the police) at a rent of €4.9m per annum on leases which will all have expired by the end of December 2016.  Since acquisition, Hibernia has secured planning permission for the redevelopment of the property consisting of 276,500 sq. ft. NIA of office and ancillary accommodation arranged in four blocks of eight storeys over basement.

Kevin Nowlan, Chief Executive Officer of Hibernia, said:

“We are delighted to have agreed terms with the Office of Public Works.  The new lease gives both parties certainty on the date of departure and secures near term income for Hibernia.  We will now work to optimise our plans for what will be an outstanding future development project.”