Sitewatch: The Elysian, Port Lane, Cork
And, it’s the first of three new deals done by agent David McCarthy of Lisney for commercial space at the mixed-used tower and development on a three acre city plot next to City Hall and the Port of Cork site, in a reinvigorated quarter with growing FDI/IT employment base that includes One Albert Quay.
News of the lease to Skyworks also comes as Lisney reveal that 180 out of the 211 apartments in the O’Flynn Construction-built/Blackstone-controlled Elysian development are now let, with works ongoing on fit-out of the remaining c 30 units which will also be leased to residential tenants, and as lights visibly creep up the 17-storey signature tower.
Set up as an Irish subsidiary of a US-based NASDAQ firm that employs 7,000 globally and with revenues of $4bn a year, Skyworks Ireland opened in East Gate Avenue, Cork, six years ago.
With a rent review and increase due there, it has just opted for a city centre base instead, and having scouted locations like City Quarter among others, Skyworks has just relocated to the Elysian’s Unit 6 on Port Lane, facing One Albert Quay which is anchored by Johnson Controls/Tyco.
The Irish company element currently employs about 17, predominantly in research, most in Cork with some in China and one in the US, and general manager Brian Hartnett confirmed that they were recruiting for a small number of extra posts. The move to Cork city centre was a positive one for Skyworks, and had been backed by the parent company, he added.
Skyworks Ireland has taken 3,500 sq ft at ground in Unit 6, and is the first occupier of the unit since the Elysian launched in 2008, the same month as Lehmann Brothers bank collapsed, rocking the world’s financial sector.
Two other deals at ground level at the Elysian are in advanced negotiations, one for medical related uses, the other for offices. Existing tenants include Aldi, medical scan company Affidea (previously occupied by EuroMedic) and El Vino restaurant.
Next door on Port Lane, One Albert Quay’s tenants include Tyco/Johnson Controls, PWC, Arup and a Starbucks.
New lettings are also imminent in City Quarter, now in new investor ownership, and where a Mexican- themed restaurant is expected to replace the Boardwalk bar and grill, to be run by the owners of Soho, East Douglas Village and Paddy the Farmers.
And, modestly sky-high as the 87-metre tall Elysian stands, it may be dwarfed in height terms if the ambitious plans of the new US/Irish owners of the Port of Cork site with bonded warehouses and Cork Harbour Commissioners as previously reported come to pass. Imagers released by the site’s purchasers show a tower at the very tip of the city ‘island’ of 30-40 storeys tall..skyworks, indeed.
Rent sought for Unit 6 now occupied by Skyworks Ireland was c €25 psf, for a self-contained ground floor office unit of c 3,500 sq ft with extensive glazed frontage to Port Lane, onsite parking, and a figure close to that was achieved.
“Given the limited supply of modern office accommodation available in the city and the strategic location of the development on Eglinton Street and onto South Link Road, there has been an increase in the level of demand for offices in The Elysian,” says Lisney’s David McCarthy, confirming “terms have also recently been agreed on two further office suites with options of between 2,500 sq ft and 13,000 sq ft still available.”
Lisney 021-4275079
