Amazon Seeks Out First Irish Warehouse as Brexit Date Looms

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc is seeking its first warehouse in Ireland to fulfill orders currently shipped from the U.K., people with knowledge of the plan said, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to lead Britain out of the European Union.

The online retailer is scouting sites with about 100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters) of space and has evaluated options on the outskirts of Dublin, according to the people, asking not to be identified as the plans are private. No deal has been agreed and there’s no certainty any lease will be signed, they said.

Irish property investors including Green REIT Plc, which was acquired by private equity firm Henderson Park last month, and IPUT Plc have been investing in Dublin warehouses and land for industrial development, betting Brexit could amplify already strong demand for logistics properties. Large retailers including Amazon and Marks & Spencer Group Plc ship goods to Irish customers from warehouses in the U.K. That leaves them vulnerable if the U.K. fails to agree a deal that would ensure the smooth movement of goods across the Irish Sea when it leaves the EU.

Amazon has sought to cut delivery times by rapidly expanding its portfolio of warehouses close to big cities. That’s helped drive rents and values higher for industrial property across Europe.

Amazon doesn’t comment on speculation, a spokesman said by telephone.

Companies leased 552,770 square feet of warehouse space in the Dublin area in the nine months through September, a 7% increase on a year earlier, according to research published by broker CBRE Group Inc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net;Peter Flanagan in Dublin at pflanagan23@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry

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