A new benchmark for a Dublin office investment was set yesterday when a business consortium led by property developer Mr Paddy Kelly paid just more than £6.6 million for the Cablelink building in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. The initial yield will be 3.3 per cent.

Gunne Commercial sold the two-storey office building for Eircom which bought it in 1994 for £2.2 million. It has a floor area of 15,515 sq ft and is currently producing a rental income of £247,000.

Eircom's decision to dispose of the block follows its sale last summer of the Cablelink business to NTL for £535 million.

The new owners of the office block will be hoping that NTL will relocate to a larger building in the city and allow them to redevelop the site at Pembroke Place. The Cablelink building has a particularly low density by comparison with the adjoining Herbert Park Hotel and the seven-storey over basement Embassy House, a 50,000 block completed shortly after the hotel.