This morning I was awoken at around 4 AM by a siren from the building’s fire alarm system. Turns out there’s a red siren in the hallway between my bedroom and the bathroom. The landlord hadn’t said anything about it, but I suppose it’s self-explanatory. I got out of bed and was looking around to see for any signs of smoke, which there were none. I also pulled a smoke detector mounted off the ceiling to check if it was going off, since it wasn’t entirely clearly as to the source of the siren (and noted the smoke detector was missing a battery). Thankfully the siren stopped after a few minutes and I was able to go back to sleep rather quickly.
I ended up sleeping in late. Maybe it’s jet lag, and my body is still on U.S. time? The skies are partially cloudy with some sunshine appearing and disappearing intermittently, and no signs of any significant rain yet. Apparently a storm named Alex will be bringing heavy rain this week.
I still don’t have Internet in the apartment, since the box/modem wasn’t delivered yesterday, meaning that I’ll have to wait until Monday. Good thing I’ve upgraded to an unlimited data plan with my Irish mobile provider!
There’s a large construction / renovation project in Temple Bar a block over to the east from my apartment called the Central Plaza. It was the former headquarters of the Central Bank of Ireland, built in the 1970s in a brutalist style that is dissonant in scale and design with the rest of Temple Bar. According to Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Plaza_(Dublin)), it is Ireland’s only “suspended building,” with its 8 floors hanging from central concrete cores. Each floor was built on the ground and then raised into place. It was impossible not to notice it during my past visits over the last two years since it sticks out like a sore thumb. Apparently in 2018, WeWork agreed to lease all 8th floors of the tower, although I thought they weren’t doing so well? In addition there will be restaurant and shop tenants, as well as a “rooftop destination” with 360 degree views of the city. I can’t seem to find much recent news about the project, most articles about it seem to be dated back to 2019, so I assume it’s been delayed/stalled by the pandemic. It’s slated to re-open in Sep 2021? The outdoor patio hallway entrance side of my apartment faces an inner courtyard and the backs of other buildings located on Fownes Street Upper, with the Central Plaza tower rising above them.
Most buildings in Temple Bar are 4-5 stories. My apartment building has 4 stories, and I’m on the 3rd floor (which in Ireland, like in other European countries, is referred to as the 2nd floor above the ground floor). The facade of my building is brick for the first three stories, and then it changes to something more modern on the top floor. The building doesn’t seem that old, or perhaps it was renovated in the 60s-70s? It’s also curious that the address refers to “Spranger’s Yard”, which isn’t a street per se. When I asked my landlord how long he had owned the apartment, he said he had purchased it in 2011. The tax records that are publicly available online report a sales price of €155,000 for 21 Sprangers Yard (my unit) in August 2012. Another unit in the building, 26 Sprangers Yard, sold for €315,000 in May 2020.
Dublin has become the home to many tech companies’ EU headquarters such as Google, Facebook, etc. Ireland has infamously offered attractive tax incentives for companies to relocate here. The various corporate tax haven schemes over the years have been given tongue-in-cheek names like “Double Irish”, “Dutch Sandwich,” “Single Malt” and “Green Jersey.” There’s also the phrase “leprechaun economics” to refer to some of the practices.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement
There’s an on-going case in the EU courts regarding a claim against Ireland for providing illegal “state aid” to Apple. The initial claim was made in 2016 after a two-year investigation by the European Commission (executive branch of the EU), and at the moment the case is still under appeals and will likely take several years to resolve.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU_illegal_state_aid_case_against_Apple_in_Ireland
Not unlike in San Francisco, the influx of tech works has created a spike in rents and a strained housing market. However, I read that Google recently walked away from leasing additional office space that would accommodate 2,000 additional staff, so perhaps the tide is turning? As in SF, many/most techies are working remotely now and many non-Irish workers have moved back to their home countries. My airport driver, Will, mentioned something about this during our bantering… apparently there’s an issue of employees who work remotely losing their residency status, although honestly I didn’t quite grasp the nuances involved.
The rest of the day will be unpacking the boxes I shipped over… more on that later!
