The sale of the European headquarters of Stripe at the One Building on Dublin’s Lower Grand Canal Street has been agreed in an off-market transaction for about €49.5 million to an international investor in a deal which would reflect a yield of 4.4 per cent.
Stripe, founded by the Limerick-born Collison brothers in 2009 and valued in January at $22.5 billion (€19.8 billion), leased the 4,200sq m (45,208sq ft) building in 2015 at an annual rent of more than €2 million which breaks back at about €538 per sq m (€50 per sq ft).
It was reported in 2016 that it subsequently sub-let about 1,394sq m (15,000sq ft) of the space on a short term lease at €646 per sq m (€60 per sq ft). This approach is typical of fast-growing tech companies which take much more space than their current requirements in order to have space to grow.
The One Building, which was sold by Savills with BNP Paribas Real Estate understood to have acted for the buyer, had been on the market quietly for some time. Numerous parties are believed to have run the rule over the property but no offers gained traction until the recent deal was agreed.
Stripe has about 100 people working in the building which is within walking distance of the Silicon Docks area, the city centre and the Dart.
Designed by Stephenson Gibney and Associates – headed by Sam Stephenson and Arthur Gibney – the office block was expertly renovated at a cost of about €7 million in 2014 and 2015 after it was acquired by developer Chris Jones.
‘Alien intrusion’
The fortress-like block “looked like an alien intrusion into the urban landscape when it was completed in 1972”, wrote Frank McDonald, former environment editor of The Irish Times.
But its refurbishment suggests that “jaded office blocks with some architectural quality – even from the bleak 1970s – can be given a new lease of life rather than consigned to the scrapheap”.
The building, which has 51 car-parking spaces, had a penthouse added and was stripped back to its concrete frame to give a “garage style” of architecture with ducts and pipes exposed. It now has a B2 energy rating and exceptional internal finishes.
Modern features introduced include raised floors, refurbished external areas, a basketball court, and top-quality shower and changing areas.
Stripe employs about 1,000 people and is one of the fastest-growing online payments companies in the world.
It operates in 25 countries, is rapidly scaling up its business and already has hubs in San Francisco, Seattle and Singapore. The company handles billions of dollars in transactions each year.
Stripe offers payment-processing services for online and mobile transactions. It supports credit card payments in more than 130 currencies, bank transfers, Alipay and WeChat Pay. It counts GE, Adidas, Docusign, Slack, Nasdaq, Macy's and the NFL among its customers.
The company has received investment from major tech titans including Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Sequoia Capital, CapitalG, Visa and American Express, to name a few.
