Intercom delays move to new Dublin headquarters as fit-out costs spiral

Having already agreed a deal earlier this year to sublet just under 50,000sq ft of the office space at its new headquarters on Dublin’s Earlsfort Terrace to US-headquartered investor KKR, Intercom has decided to delay its own move into the property.

The high costs associated with fitting out the Cadenza building are understood to have informed the company’s decision to seek out alternative, fully fitted accommodation at numbers 124-127 St Stephen’s Green instead. The Irish Times understands Intercom intends to rent about 40,000sq ft at the building from its main tenant, the online-recruitment firm Indeed, on a short to medium-term basis. The space being taken by Intercom became available in 2021 following Indeed’s move to consolidate its own Dublin-based operations into its other office at Capital Dock in the city’s south docklands.

Intercom had been due to relocate from its current base at the former headquarters of the now-defunct Anglo Irish Bank on St Stephen’s Green to the Cadenza building this year but that move has been put on hold. Contacted for comment, a spokesman for Intercom confirmed that the company would now relocate to Indeed’s former offices in early 2024 instead.

Intercom agreed to pre-let the entire Cadenza building (10,300sq m/110,868sq ft) on an 18-year lease prior to the arrival of Covid-19 in December 2019. KKR occupies the top three floors of the property following the agreement of a deal that saw Intercom assigning part of its lease with the building’s owner, Irish Life, to the global investment firm.

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KKR is a global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, credit and real assets, with $519 billion (€483 billion) in assets under management, according to its website.

Intercom was founded in 2011 by Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, Ciarán Lee and David Barrett. The company, which describes itself as a “next-generation customer-service platform” claims more than a billion end users. Its products allow companies to communicate with customers through their own websites, inside their respective web and mobile apps, and by email. Clients include Amazon, Meta, Atlassian, Microsoft and Amplitude. Intercom achieved so-called unicorn status in 2018 after raising $125 million to take its valuation to more than $1 billion.