The Irish Times Ltd is to sell the former Irish Press headquarters at Burgh Quay, Dublin 1. Agents Hamilton Osborne King are quoting a guideline price of over £9 million for the building, which is to be auctioned on June 27th.

Since acquiring the property in 1996, The Irish Times has secured full planning permission and fire certificates to refurbish and extend it to provide a net floor area of 47,891 sq ft and basement car-park with 10 spaces. With office space in the city centre in particularly short supply, Stephen Cassidy of HOK says he expects the building will be bought either by a developer or an owner-occupier because it was one of the few "ready to go " redevelopment opportunities available.

Two months ago, an office site of 0.46 of an acre at City Quay was sold at auction for £8 million - easily a record price for the area. An even smaller site, 0.27 of an acre, used as a petrol filling station at the junction of Harcourt Street and Adelaide Road, recently made £8.8 million.

The area around Burgh Quay is to undergo major changes over the next few years. The Cosgrave Group is currently building 250,000 sq ft of offices at George's Quay. Nearby, CIE has applied for planning permission for a 220,000 sq ft office development at Tara Street DART station, and the Office of Public Works is to refurbish Hawkins House, the office block at rear of the old Press building.