WHEN BUSINESSMAN Jim Boylan bought a former warehouse in Dublin’s Bishop Street – just off Aungier Street – in the mid 1970s he had all the time in the world to redevelop the site for offices.

Unfortunately, 30 years later the timing of the launch of the high quality office building could not have been worse – it coincides with a virtual collapse of the market and the most serious economic recession in the history of the State.

Back in the 1970s the property was acquired as a distribution centre for the family’s wholesale shoe business, Boylan Brothers, but within a short period it was realised that there were considerable drawbacks in operating such an enterprise from a city centre location. The business was duly relocated to Co Monaghan.

The warehouse was rented to a variety of businesses over the years and in between (in 1979) Jim’s Boylan Property Group got planning permission to redevelop the site with a large office complex. For one reason or another, they did not proceed with the project and in due course the permission ran out.

Then five years ago the project was reactivated and a fresh planning application made by architects O’Mahony Pike. It was quite different to the original application in that the new building would be significantly smaller and part of the site, which included a protected structure, the former Moravian Meeting Hall and Cloister, would be preserved and refurbished. There were no objectors and when the planning permission came through construction got under way.

Jim Boylan says that at that stage the office market was booming, there was a scarcity of new space in this part of the city and they were aiming at a rent of €538 per sq m (€50 per sq ft). Now that the building – called the Boat House at Bishop Street in Dublin 8 – is complete there are widespread vacancies and rents are under “serious downward pressure”. However, Boylan took the view that after owning the site for the last 30 years the building had to be “bullet-proof” in terms of design not only for today but for the next 30 years.

James Nugent of letting agent Lisney says that the quality of finish is exceptional and this runs right through from the reception area up each of the office floors.

The project has two parts, the main one being a seven-storey office building with air conditioning and data infrastructure. The second part is the former Moravian Meeting Hall and Cloister which has been transformed into highly unusual office accommodation overlooking a private internal courtyard. A talented team of Irish craftsmen was assembled to carry out detailed and intricate work on the hall.

Now that the building is completed, all that’s required are tenants. Because of the slowdown in the market, the agent has dropped the quoting rent to €323 per sq m (€30 per sq ft).

Jim Boylan says he originally hoped for long term leases but now accepts that those days have gone “so if the right tenant comes in the door and says they want a three-year lease for one floor, we won’t be found wanting”.