High-profile commercial tenants are paying more than €1 million a-year in rent for central Dublin offices, a first look at a newly-published register of business leases shows.

The Property Services Regulatory Authority’s Commercial Leases Register went live yesterday, making basic information on agreements involving business tenants available to the public for the first time.

Information such as the address, date that a lease commences, the average annual rent and the agreement’s duration are available free, while members of the public can buy a more detailed description of the terms and conditions for €10. However, the register does not name the landlords or tenants involved in any of the leases.

It does show that some of the higher profile deals done for office space over the last year in Dublin ran into seven figures.

British satellite TV broadcaster and distributor, Sky, is paying €1.12 million a year for its current premises on the fourth and fifth floors 1 Burlington Plaza in Dublin 4.

Details in the register show that it signed up for 10 years midway through 2012, with a 12-month rent-free period beginning at the start of the sixth year, which coincides with a review and break clause.

Later last year, the register shows that the part of number two Grand Canal Square was leased for 10 years at an annual rent of €1.25 million. British outsourcing specialist, Capita, took that property, which now acts as its Irish HQ and is home to its financial services and registrars businesses.

The rent paid by Capita should give an indication of the sums that law firm William Fry and social media group, Facebook, are likely to pay for their accommodation.

William Fry recently announced that it intends moving to new offices on Grand Canal Square, close to the theatre.

An adjoining block is being fitted out for Facebook, which is expanding its European headquarters, which has been based in Dublin for several years.

Details of both those leases have yet to be published on the register. However, recent reports say that it is likely they will pay around €322 per sq m for their offices, the standard market rent for new buildings in the capital.

Strategy
Developer Joe O'Reilly's Chartered Land built all three blocks, completing them in 2010 under Nama's supervision. The State assets agency is generally regarded as being responsible for the letting strategy.

Most of the leases registered involve more modest sums.

The Black Lion pub in the Dublin suburb of Inchicore was leased for five years late in September for an annual average rent of €62,500.

A ground floor store in the Jervis Centre on the city's northside was recently leased for 15 years for an annual average rent of €67,500. A kiosk on the first floor of the same shopping mall, built by developer Paddy McKillen, has an annual average charge of €37,000 for a four years and nine months.

An office in the building at 3 Harbourmaster Place in the city’s International Financial Services Centre was leased for seven years and eight months last August for an annual average rent of €168,028.

In Cork, an office on the South Mall, traditional home to financial services, lawyers and accountants, commanded a rent of €51,125 a-year for 21 years.

The Phoenix Bar, one of its better known pubs, on Union Quay, is being leased for €29,960 a-year for 10 years.

Eamonn Maguire, chairman of the Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland's commercial agency committee, says that transparency is key to the whole exercise.

He argues that the primary beneficiaries will be tenants, who are charged with providing the information to the regulator in the first place.