10th April (Issue 141)
Welcome to the Origin Capital Weekly Irish Property Review. This update is designed to provide you with a full recap of the latest property news from the media over the last seven days.
RETAIL
Charlestown Shopping Centre: Joint agents Bannon and Savills are quoting €35.5m for the sale of the Charlestown Shopping Centre in Dublin 11. The centre has 26 individual units providing an annual income of €2.8m with a weighted unexpired term of c. 9 years, equating to an 8% return. The sale also includes the benefit of an adjoining development site with planning for 247 apartments and ground floor commercial space. The Irish Times, 4th April
South King Street, Dublin: Real estate investor Hines has completed the purchase of the Chatham & King mixed use development on South King Street in Dublin city centre for c. €150m. The development comprises 33,000 sq. ft. of retail units occupied by Zara, H&M and Warehouse and 31,000 sq. ft. of office space occupied by data analytics firm Qualtrics with a combined rent roll of €6.8m. Also included in the sale is the Chatham Court building, the second phase of the asset with five retail units to be developed and delivered in the next 24 months. The Irish Independent, 6th April
Blanchardstown Shopping Centre: Plans to create 54 retail kiosks totalling c. 60,000 sq. ft. inside the Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin have been scaled back after objections from anchor tenant Dunnes Stores, who claimed the kiosks would adversely affect the centre and its own store. Planning consultants have now told the local council that they will reduce number of kiosks to 38 totalling 49,000 sq. ft. The Irish Independent, 9th April
OFFICE
Haddington Road, Dublin 4: German fund Quadoro Doric, has completed the purchase of a newly refurbished 28,000 sq. ft. office development on Haddington Road in Dublin 4 for €24m (€857 psf). The building is let to Dentsu Aegis, a multinational media and digital company on a 20-year lease at €1.4m p.a., equating to a net initial yield of 5.4%. The Irish Times, 4th April
Dublin Office Market Q1: Demand for office space in Dublin is showing no sign of slowing as the capital recorded a record volume of take-up in the first quarter of 2018. A CBRE report shows that 900k sq. ft. of office space was leased in the Dublin market in the first three months of the year, up more than 69% on the same period in 2017. Some 60 lettings were signed in Dublin in the period, with 28 transactions agreed with Irish companies, 16 to US companies and seven lettings to UK companies. CBRE also reported that prime headline rents have remained stable at c. €65 psf, despite analysts suggesting last year that they would drop to c. €62 psf. The Irish Times, 6th April
HOTEL
Metropole Hotel, Cork: Plans have been approved for the €50m redevelopment of the Metropole Hotel in Cork city centre. The planned development will extend to c. 280k sq. ft. and will include the expansion and refurbishment of the existing hotel and the construction of a new hotel on an adjacent site to accommodate 400 bedrooms in total. The two hotels will be linked through a first-floor bridge and the construction work is expected to take c. 3 years. The Sunday Business Post, 8th April
Q1 Hotel Market Activity: CBRE have reported that four hotels with a combined value of c. €199m have changed hands so far this year, equating to almost half the volume of spending on hotels recorded for the whole of 2017. The four hotel sales concluded in the first quarter were: the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris, Co Mayo, the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sligo, and the Hilton Garden Inn Dublin Custom House which was sold as part of the Amaris portfolio. The most significant transaction to have been concluded during the period was the sale of the Citywest Hotel by US private equity giant Pimco to Tetrarch Capital. The Irish Times, 10th April
RESIDENTIAL / LAND
South Docklands Site, Cork: The former Ford distribution site in Cork’s south docklands has been brought to the market by CBRE with a guide price of €8.5m (€752k per acre). The 11.3 acre site, which was previously sold for €35m, has planning permission for the development of 564 apartments, offices extending to 340k sq. ft., a 200-bedroom hotel and a 5,000-seater events centre. The Irish Times, 4th April
Harold Court, Dublin 12: Savills have brought a 23 apartment development on Parnell Road in Dublin 12 to the market guiding €7.25m (€315k per apartment). Harold Court which was built in 2006 and was recently refurbished, is being offered for sale with full vacant possession. The development comprises 4 one-bed apartments and 19 two-bed apartments ranging in size from 440 sq. ft. to 760 sq. ft. and includes 25 underground car spaces. The Irish Independent, 5th April
Glanmire, Co. Cork: O’ Flynn Construction has received planning permission from An Bord Pleanála to develop 608 residential units at a site in Glanmire, Co. Cork. The development will consist of c. 500 two, three and four-bed terraced houses with the remaining units in apartment blocks ranging from three to five storeys tall. The company expects to start working on the development in the summer and expect first homes to go on sale in February 2019. The project includes a neighbourhood centre with a crèche, retail services, a community building and a site for a school. The Irish Times, 4th April
Raheny, North Dublin: An Bord Pleanála approved a 500-unit residential development in Raheny, North Dublin. The decision, which was made under a fast-track planning process, is subject to 24 conditions and with a requirement that at least 10% of all homes will be for social housing. Some 1,102 submissions were made, most opposed to the plan, which centred on concerns around the impact on St Anne’s Park, traffic and Brent Geese which use the pitches as a feeding ground. The Irish Independent, 9th April
Mortgage Arrears Update: The Central Bank has reported that the owners of c. 14,000 homes that are in long-term arrears in Ireland could lose their properties. In total, 28,046 private dwelling homes were in mortgage arrears as of December 2017 and the Central Bank has said that more than half of those cases were “classified as involving the potential for loss of ownership outcomes”. Since the middle of 2009, 8,195 owner-occupied properties have either been voluntarily surrendered by the mortgage holders or have been repossessed by the lender, due to the borrowers’ inability to keep up with mortgage payments. The Irish Times, 10th April
OTHERS
Q1 Investment Market Activity: CBRE Ireland released investment spend figures for the Irish market Q1 of 2018, which show that almost €930m was invested in commercial property in Ireland during the first three months of the year. Almost three quarters of Irish investment activity occurred in the Dublin market although CBRE note that investors are now exploring good investment opportunities in other cities such as Cork, which accounts for 11% of total spend. CBRE Website, 5th April
Student Accommodation Cork: A newly acquired student accommodation block at Copley Street in Cork city centre is to be enlarged and upgraded by the Irish-owned company Hatch Student Living. A €25m investment package will be used to double the bed numbers to c. 250, as well as provide a gym, laundry, student spaces and communal lounges. Hatch Student Living was founded in 2016 and invests in the refurbishment of older properties and currently operates 230 student beds in Cork and Carlow. The Irish Times, 3rd April
Connolly Quarter, Dublin: Ballymore Properties is to partner with CIE on the delivery of a major mixed scheme development next to Connolly Station in Dublin’s IFSC. The Connolly Quarter will comprise c. 540k sq. ft. of office space, a hotel and apartment complex. Ballymore’s success in securing the tender for the 7.9 acre site comes weeks after Bartra Capital was selected as CIE’s partner for a new high-rise office scheme at Grand Canal Quay in Dublin’s south docklands area. The Irish Independent, 8th April
Ardmore Lodge Nursing Home, North Dublin: Nursing home specialists CareChoice, has completed the purchase of the 89-bedroom Ardmore Lodge Nursing Home facility in North Co. Dublin for €15m from the owners of the Mercantile pub group. CareChoice, which was purchased by the French Investment fund InfraVia for €70m last year, has ambitions to become Ireland’s largest care home operator through acquisitions and organic growth. The Sunday Business Post, 8th April
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