Blackstone is in talks to hand back the keys to 75 St Stephen's Green in Dublin. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni/The Irish Times
A partially empty, five-story building close to the old Guinness family home in Dublin’s city centre offers a glimpse into the slowdown gripping parts of the Irish capital’s office market.
The owner, Blackstone, is in talks to hand back the keys to 75 St Stephen’s Green, which it bought in 2019 as part of a wider portfolio, to its lenders.
“These assets were prudently written down to zero some time ago, given the well-documented headwinds facing the Irish office market,” Blackstone said in response to questions.
“These are extremely rare instances in our $600 billion (€513 billion) global portfolio where our office exposure remains minimal.”
Blackstone joins investors including Brookfield Asset Management and Henderson Park in seeing bets on Dublin’s tech-heavy office market sour.
After the pandemic hit, demand slumped just as supply surged, and the city now has one of the highest vacancy rates in Europe at more than 17 per cent.
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