Agreement signed last month is described as a ‘landmark’ for capital’s office market
Workday confirmed last month that it had inked an agreement with M&G Real Estate and Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group to lease the entire space at the new city centre College Square development. It’s being constructed on the site of the former Apollo House and is almost complete.
The deal for the 416,000sqft of super-prime office space marked the single largest transaction in the sector in Europe since the pandemic.
In its first quarter results released this month, Workday confirmed the amount it has set aside for the lease of the new Dublin office.
Dublin’s office market is poised for ‘significant recovery’ this year
“During the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we entered into a new operating lease agreement for our European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland which has not yet commenced, with total undiscounted lease payments of $468m,” it told investors.
“The operating lease is expected to commence in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 with a lease term of 20 years.”
The lease deal was a major coup for Marlet and the broader office market.
Workday had originally intended to construct its own 550,000sqft European headquarters on a site in Grangegorman in the capital.
However, it abandoned that plan earlier this year, opting instead to move its staff to the development on Tara Street.
Workday will move its 2,000 staff, currently at two separate locations in Dublin, to the new location.
Mr Crean, who is Marlet’s chief executive, described the lease agreement as a “significant milestone” for Dublin’s office market.
Construction of College Square, which also features 54 apartments, is expected to be completed next month, with Workday commencing its fit-out programme soon after.
Real estate firm Savills said in March that Dublin’s office market is poised for “significant recovery” this year, driven by rapidly falling vacancy rates, major corporate commitments and strong demand for prime office spaces.
It said that the office vacancy rate in the Dublin 2 area is expected to fall sharply by the end of 2025, due to strong occupier interest and substantial pre-let activity.
Savills said that prime office rents in Dublin’s central business district have already begun to recover, having risen 4pc year-on-year to €65 per square foot in the final quarter of 2024. That’s the highest figure on record.
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