Office MarketNew tenants at the IFSC are to include Bank of Montreal, KPMG and Wachovia.

All three companies have taken 10-year leases for offices at 2 Harbourmaster Place, one of the central buildings in the IFSC. The seven-storey building has 5,518.41sq m (59,400sq ft) of office accommodation along with 53 car-parking spaces.

"Over 60 per cent of the building has now been let at annual rents of €515 per sq m (€48 per sq ft) for the offices and car spaces in the region of €3,500 per annum," says Fionnuala O'Buachalla, director with Jones Lang LaSalle who are joint agents for the building with DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.

Ronan Corbett, associate director with DTZ Sherry Fitz-Gerald, says: "This strong take up is further evidence of the importance of the Financial Services Centre as a business location for companies in Dublin. We are now marketing the ground, first and second floors in this superb building.

The floors extend to 616.46sq m, 828sq m and 853.1sq m, and are available on a floor-by-floor basis at a rent of €515 per sq m and €3,500 per car space."

The IFSC is home to more than 430 national and international companies and strong employment growth in financial services has been a major factor in strengthening the office market in Dublin city centre in recent months.

Of the new lettings, KPMG has leased the third and fourth floors, covering 1,706sq m (18,363sq ft); Wachovia has leased the fifth floor of 840sq m (9,042sq ft), and Bank of Montreal has taken the sixth floor of 675sq m (7,266sq ft) where it is relocating from Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin 2.

The IFSC is close to all forms of transport, including the Dart, Luas, commuter and mainline rail services, and long-distance as well as city bus routes. Amenities have increased as the area has developed and now include retail and leisure facilities in the immediate area, as well as those nearby in the city centre.