Citigroup kickstarts sale of Dublin base, seeks new Irish HQ

Dublin

CITIGROUP Inc is putting its waterfront Dublin office on the market, as the lender looks for a new location in the city.

The six-storey building at 1 North Wall Quay in Dublin's docklands is expected to fetch more than 120 million euros (S$179.3 million), Knight Frank said in an emailed statement. The bank has occupied the 230,000 square foot office for more than 20 years and is already looking for a new Dublin address, the broker said.

Citi will remain in North Wall Quay for some time after it has sold the building while its new location is prepared. Whoever buys Citi's current home could redevelop the site, Knight Frank said.

Dublin is the headquarters for Citibank Europe Plc, which has more than 2,500 employees in Ireland and branches in 22 countries across Europe.

The move will be one of the most significant changes in the Dublin office market in the past two years, which has been hobbled by the pandemic.

Firms rented 999,000 square foot of office space in the last three months of 2021, according to Knight Frank research. That was more than double the previous quarter. The realtor expects companies to rent about 2 million square foot in 2022, up about a fifth from last year.

Lenders worldwide have been reassessing their property footprints since the pandemic enforced a shift to flexible working.

The US lender said in January that it will completely refurbish its 42-storey office tower in London's Canary Wharf district with a greater emphasis on shared work spaces. BLOOMBERG