Dublin’s office vacancy rate fell slightly in Q2 2020 from Q1, from 16.56% to 16.53%. The office vacancy rate will likely fall further in Q3 2020 when Quantum Health officially occupies their new 240,000-square-foot headquarters at 5240 Blazer Parkway, in addition to Hagerty Insurance (41,000 SF) and g2o (39,817 SF) occupying previously leased space.
Commercial real estate activity in Dublin has been strong for the past several quarters, due in large part to the strength of the economy prior to the pandemic and long-planned real estate decisions completed (like those noted above). The impacts of COVID-19 are, however, emerging: fewer tenants in the market, fewer long-term real estate decisions being made, more spaces offered for sublease as companies scale back or migrate to remote work. This will likely result in slowed activity in the coming quarters.
Ongoing discussions with business leaders and commercial real estate brokers indicate that many companies continue to watch and wait to understand the economic impacts of COVID-19 as well as social distancing mandates that could significantly alter the type and amount of space needed to accommodate employees and customers. This lag is likely to be evident in the commercial real estate data starting in Q3/Q4 2020.