At a breakfast meeting at the Palattes restaurant at the Denver Art Museum, Mayor Wellington Webb lauded the new office, as well as the importance of international trade missions, even during soft economies, such as this one.

"We see a great number of opportunities for partnering between our regions and our companies from both sides of the Atlantic," Webb says.

Ron Bernstein, director of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development and International Trade, tells GlobeSt.com that the new Northern Ireland center will be the first stopping point for Denver companies that want to do business in Ireland, as well as Irish companies that want to do business in Denver.

But Bernstein says the new office, at least at first, won't make much of a dent in Denver's high office vacancy rates.

"They just need a small office to start," Bernstein tells GlobeSt.com. "My guess is 2,000 sf, maybe not even that."