Irish Life is to fund the €125m development of a 118,000sqft office building in Dublin.
The development, at 13-18 City Quay in the city’s docklands, will be bought by Irish Life upon completion.
It is part of a wider range of investments in the city by US company Oaktree Capital and Irish developer The Bennett Group, known as the Reveal Developments.
Irish Life is buying the asset from The City Development Fund, a sub-fund of Oaktree Capital’s Targeted Investment Opportunities investment vehicle.
The building has been pre-let to Grant Thornton and is due for completion in May next year.
The City Development Fund is developing a number of commercial and residential assets in the docklands. Last year, it pre-let, constructed and sold 8 Hanover Quay – now the European headquarters of AirBnB.
Other projects of Targeted Investment Opportunities include the development of 5 Hanover Quay – a 160,000 sqft office building due for completion in Q1-2018 – and 76 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, a 100,000 sqft office building and residential accommodation of 72 luxury apartments.
Martin O’Reilly, head of property at Irish Life, said: “Upon completion, 13-18 City Quay will be a state-of-the-art office building offering an environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient work environment.
“The acquisition through forward funding of this core pre-let development nicely complements the high quality office stock in our portfolio, which has been reinvigorated through new acquisitions, refurbishment and development through the current cycle”.
Irish Life has been investing in the future of Dublin’s office stock through development and refurbishment projects, the most recent being Velasco in Grand Canal Street.
The insurer also acquired Hume House in Ballsbridge for around €35m, and is currently developing 1GQ at Georges Quay and a refurbishment at 2-4 Merrion Row.
The investor said it had acquired €1bn of property over the past four years.
