10th March (Issue 537)

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.

ORIGIN CAPITAL KVIKA FUNDING PARTNERSHIP

New Origin Kvika Deal Under Origin Capital’s strategic relationship with Kvika banki hf, Origin Capital recently arranged a two year, €6m, interest only facility, secured on a residential investment in Dublin. If you have a funding request for €2m+, please contact Ross Metcalfe at rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie Origin Capital, 3^rd March

MIXED USE

Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 Savills is guiding €14.5m (7.06% NIY) for Westend Commercial Village, a neighbourhood centre near Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. At 100% occupancy, it generates €1.1m of rental income pa. AIB, Wetherspoon’s pub and O’Brien’s off-licence account for over 62% of annual income. Other tenants are Costa Coffee, Chopped delicatessen, Paddy Power bookies, Westend Barbers and Apache pizza. Its office space is fully let to Money Advice and Budgeting Service and Daughters of Charity. Split between four buildings with a mix of single-storey and two-storey retail units, the retail space comprises 51,441 sq. ft and offices extend to 11,006 sq. ft. There is 5.28 years to break and 10.58 years to expiry for the leases. The property is located on the Snugborough Road, on a 3.23-acre site which also accommodates more than 150 surface car-parking spaces. The Irish Independent, 5^th March
For lending terms on this asset, please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie

Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 JLL is guiding €110m for One Molesworth Street. Best known as the home of Barclays’ Irish headquarter offices and the Ivy Dawson Street, the property was first offered to the market by Henderson Park in 2020 as part of its proposed €400m sale of the Capital Collection, a portfolio of five prime Dublin offices it had acquired as part of its €1.34bn buyout of Green Reit. While Henderson Park secured €249m from the sales of the other four office blocks between 2020-2022, The Irish Times understands the company was unwilling to sell One Molesworth Street for the €150m+ being offered by Pontegadea at the time. The property is understood to have been carrying a guide of approx. €175m as part of the wider Capital Collection portfolio. The Irish Times, 4^th March

O’Connell Street, Dublin 1 Plans have been lodged with Dublin City Council (“DCC”) to repurpose the currently vacant, high profile AIB bank building at the top of O’Connell Street into a bar, restaurant and 20 studio apartments. In the plans, Sports Bars Management Ltd has lodged the application for the change of use and extension to the four-storey over basement building at 37 and 38 O’Connell Street Upper and 74 Parnell Street. The L-shaped site lies opposite the Rotunda Hospital and Gate Theatre. DCC recently granted planning permission to D1 Collection Ltd for a 44-bedroom aparthotel across four floors at 14-17 O’Connell Street Lower. The Irish Times, 4^th March

OFFICE

Fairgreen Road, Galway City O’Donnellan & Joyce is guiding €2.8m for Fairgreen House, Fairgreen Road. The 12,260 sq. ft property, with 24 metres of street frontage, comprises ground and first floor accommodation in a multi-unit development. It benefits from own door access and an attractive glazed façade with its ground floor naturally lit by a double-height reception area with a central staircase leading to the mezzanine level. Tobin Engineers occupy the upper floors. Originally developed in 2008, the lot for sale is predominately open plan with an internal lift to provide access to the mezzanine area on which there are offices and canteen areas. The Business Post, 7^th March

Ballybrit Business Park, Galway City O’Donnellan & Joyce is auctioning Units 4 and 9 in Ballybrit Business Park guiding €1.95m. The two detached, three storey blocks are fully let generating €267,000 pa from six floors equating to a gross initial yield of 13.6%. Block 4, which has an internal area of 11,862 sq. ft, generates a total passing rent of €140,000 per annum. All tenants whose leases commenced in 2022 operate in the med-tech/IT sector and each of them has fitted the space to their own requirements including bespoke lab space. In Block 9, which extends to 11,700 sq. ft, two of the tenancies commenced in 2023 and the other has just recently been signed for the ground floor unit. Located to the north of the city, Ballybrit Business Park benefits from access to major road networks, including the M6 motorway. The Business Post, 7^th March

Burgh Quay, Dublin 2 Scotch House, a LEED Gold-certified development overlooking the River Liffey beside O’Connell Bridge, has agreed leases with technology firm Softcat and advisory group Baker Tilly for the second and first floors respectively. Softcat, advised by Lambert Smith Hampton, has taken the entire second floor on a 10-year lease. Meanwhile Baker Tilly, represented by Real Estate Project Partners, has secured the first floor. Both lettings follow a similar strategy adopted for earlier floors in the building, with the landlord delivering fully fitted office space rather than passing on second-generation fit-out. The final available space comprises the ground floor, extending to about 3,400 sq. ft and is available to let through QRE. The Business Post, 6^th March

Burlington Road, Dublin 4 Crownway Investments has applied to DCC for planning permission to build a six-storey extension to Temple Chambers, which sits on a corner on Burlington Road. The building comprises five storeys and 24,004 sq. ft of space. It was built by Treasury Holdings in the early 1990s. Crownway wants to add a 14,574 sq. ft extension to the south and southeast elevation of the building. If it gets the go-ahead, it will include a new ground-floor lobby and installation of new windows to the building. Car parking spaces would be reduced from 16 to five. Crownway bought the office block for a reported €13.3m in 2013. The Sunday Times, 8^th March

HOSPITAL

Delgany, Co. Wicklow A long-established licensed premises in north Wicklow is being brought to market as a going concern. Lisney is guiding €1.95m for The Carraig in Killincarrig, Delgany, which comprises a prominent two-storey semi-detached licensed premises presented in excellent condition. At ground level the property contains a traditional public bar and lounge bar, together with kitchen facilities serving the business. A notable feature of the property is its large split-level beer garden to the side and rear. Overhead accommodation adds a further income stream. The first floor contains two self-contained residential units, comprising a one-bedroom apartment and a three-bedroom apartment. The Business Post, 6^th March

Baggot Street, Dublin 4 A private Irish investor has paid c.€1.35m (6.4% NIY) for 20 Upper Baggot Street. The 3,025 sq. ft property is distributed over four floors. The ground floor is let under a 10-year lease to the owner/operator of Tula, a Mexican-style restaurant, from February 2023 and is subject to a reserved rent of €72,500 annually. A portion of the upper-floor office space is let on several short-term leases and is generating an income of about €22,500 pa. The remaining office space has an estimated rental value of between €25,000 and €30,000. The property is located immediately adjacent to the former Baggot Street Hospital and next to a strong line-up of retail and restaurant occupiers including Tesco, Boots and Searsons. The Irish Times, 4^th March

Dame Lane, Dublin 2 Hospitality investment firm NHance plans to commence construction on a €12m extension to the REZz hotel in Dublin city centre after securing new finance from BentallGreenOak. NHance, which controls a string of hotels, bars and cafés in Ireland, opened the 51-bed REZz hotel on Dame Lane in 2023 following a €5m investment. In 2024, the firm secured planning permission to extend the venue through the redevelopment of the Telephone Exchange Building on Dame Court, owned by Eir. The extension will convert the first to fifth floors of the Telephone Exchange Building into hotel accommodation and add 92 bedrooms to the existing 51-bed hotel. The Business Post, 7^th March

INDUSTRIAL

Dundalk, Co. Louth Property developer Tanola has done deals for seven of its eight sites in the 22-acre Dundalk Business Park. Sherry FitzGerald Carroll is quoting €13.50 psf for a lease on an industrial or logistics unit available to be built on the last of the sites. The most recent deal was for the pre-let of Greenpark House, a 153,000 sq. ft new manufacturing facility on a 6.5-acre site. Hanley Energy Ltd took a 20-year lease to facilitate its expansion plans and to service the new Equinix contract. This will be the third building on the site. The first, a 48,000 sq. ft steelworks building, is nearing completion and will be occupied by Dundalk Fabrication, a sister company of Tanola. Construction work is also underway on a third building. The Irish Independent, 5^th March

Airport Business Park, Co. Dublin Palm Logistics has secured EVRi, one of the UK’s largest parcel delivery companies, as tenant for Unit D1 at Airport Business Park. EVRi has signed a new long-term lease on the property and agreed a headline rent of €13.25 psf. The facility will serve as the company’s new Irish distribution hub. Unit D1 extends to 92,563 sq. ft and features 30 dock levellers and two grade-level roller-shutter doors, providing direct access to a 34-metre-deep service yard. The warehouse has a clear internal height of 9 metres and is equipped with high-bay LED lighting. Palm Logistics was represented by joint agents Cushman & Wakefield and Savills, while EVRi was advised by Lambert Smith Hampton. The Irish Times, 4^th March

RETAIL

McDonald’s Restaurants, Nationwide Fast-food giant McDonald’s said it will open 25 new restaurants across Ireland in the next five years as part of a €150m investment that will create 1,750 jobs. The first of the new locations opened in New Ross, Co Wexford last month, with plans for four more this year. It has not yet revealed where the remaining locations will be but said it will open an average of five new locations each year. McDonald’s currently has 96 restaurants throughout Ireland, independently owned and operated by 18 Irish franchisees and employing more than 7,000 people. The company said it will also invest in its existing restaurants in Ireland, with the programme already kicking off with the €3m refurbishment of its Cork Douglas restaurant late last year. The Irish Times, 3^rd March

Dawson Street, Dublin 2 Danish sandwich and health food chain Joe and the Juice is to open its first Irish shop on Dawson Street in May. The venue, which will be situated on Grafton Place near Trinity College, will be 2,200 sq. ft and will create about 30 new jobs in the city. The group is understood to be spending in the region of €600,000-€800,000 on the facility. Founded in Copenhagen in 2002, the chain has grown to over 450 locations worldwide including New York, Dubai, and London. The company’s target is to open another three or four outlets in Dublin this year. The Irish Times, 5^th March

RESIDENTIAL/DEVELOPMENT

Merrion Road, Dublin 4 Avison Young is guiding €40m for the 13.47-acre site of the former St Mary’s nursing home. Located adjacent to St Vincent’s University Hospital on Merrion Road, a majority of the 13.47-acre property is currently zoned for community and social infrastructure, while about 1.3-acres is earmarked for employment or enterprise. Reddy Architecture + Urbanism has drawn up a masterplan comprising c.360 apartments across a range of tenures, 315 single-bed student accommodation units primarily intended for medical students, a 250 single-bed step-down/care home facility, a 239-bedroom hotel, and c.210,144 sq. ft of private hospital accommodation. The Business Post, 4^th March

If you have an article which you would like to have considered for inclusion in our next weekly report, please contact us at info@origincapital.ie

Origin Capital funds senior debt transactions in the CRE investment sector, typically in excess of €2m, and has lent over €400m to clients since April 2015.

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If you would like to discuss how Origin Capital can help with your funding requirements, please contact us on 01 662 9264.