Union Investment has acquired Gandon House, a 3,600m² office property at 1 Amiens Street in Dublin. The property was constructed in 1972 and has been fully let to the Office of Public Works (OPW) since 1979. The OPW is an agency of the Department of Public Expenditure. It is responsible for the management and maintenance of public properties, the operation of national monuments and flood risk management. The purchase price was not disclosed. The acquisition will be added to the holdings of open-ended special real estate fund DIFA-Fonds Nr. 3.
Gandon House is located in the centre of Dublin and is close to Connolly Station, the busiest public transport hub in Ireland. The building is opposite the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), which is home to a total of around 500 companies with more than 35,000 employees. The proposed development of the Connolly Quarter is expected to further boost the attractiveness of the location.
“Shortly after its recent acquisition of a 3,500m² office property in Helsinki at the end of October 2019, DIFA-Fonds Nr. 3 is continuing its strategy of cautiously expanding the international reach of its portfolio with this new acquisition in Dublin. In addition to locations in Germany, the fund is now also represented in Finland, Ireland and Poland with fungible properties that will retain their value. By acquiring Gandon House, we have also further stabilised the fund’s office exposure,” said Wolfang Kessler, a member of the Management Board of Union Investment Institutional Property.
