10th September (Issue 463)

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.

HOSPITALITY

Ballyconnell, Co Cavan The Brady Group, one of Australia’s largest private property development companies, is set to buy the four-star hotel Slieve Russell. Sources say the deal is below the asking price of €35m. Slieve Russell’s latest accounts, to the end of June 2023, show revenues of more than €19m and a pre-tax profit of €9k. A note in the accounts said the balance sheet showed a net liability at the end of June 2023 of €41.7m resulting from the debt owed to Irish Bank Resolution Company. The Sunday Times, 8^th September

Stepaside, South Co Dublin The Step Inn in Stepaside village is being offered for sale with Lisney guiding €3.25m for the gastro pub. It is being sold by Declan Kelly and John McCluskey who bought it in 2004 for a sum believed to be more than the current guide price. Sitting on a site of more than 0.5 acres, the building itself extends to over 8,643 sq. ft of gross internal accommodation. The Irish Independent, 5^th September

OFFICE

Blackrock, South Dublin Block 2 at Blackrock Business Park has been sold to a private Irish investor for €8.75m (€316 psf) and was guiding €10.25m. The property’s contracted rent is €920k pa (NIY 9.5%). Block 2 briefly comprises a standalone three-storey office building extending to 27,678 sq. ft with 71 car-parking spaces. The tenant line-up comprises Identigen and Becton Dickinson, with a WAULT of approx. four years to break and 10 years to lease expiry. The Irish Times, 4^th September

Lower Hatch Street, Dublin 2 French investor Atland Voisin has paid approx. €24m (€537 psf) for “20 on Hatch”, a prime office building on Lower Hatch Street in Dublin. While the price paid by Atland represents a 9% discount on the €26.5m price the property had been guiding when it was offered to the market on behalf of Davy Real Estate in April 2024, it is a full 40% below the valuation ascribed to it by its outgoing owners in 2018. The subject property comprises a six-storey-over-basement office building of 44,735 sq. ft, with MetLife occupying five floors. In 2018, the company extended its existing lease term for 10 years, at an agreed rent in excess of €50 per sq. ft. The Irish Times, 4^th September

Dundrum, Dublin 14 Lisney has been instructed to find a buyer for John Paul Construction’s former offices in Dundrum Business Park. John Paul’s former base comprises 21,822 sq. ft of office accommodation and 36 dedicated car-parking spaces. The building is available for sale with full vacant possession at a guide price of €5.25m (€240 psf). The Irish Times, 4^th September

RETAIL

Eyre Square, Galway A retail unit investment in Eyre Square Shopping Centre is being offered for sale and TWM is seeking in excess of €1m for it. Unit 216 is let to Now Newsagents Ltd trading as The Card Shop and it has a contracted annual rent of €131.9k (NIY 12%) under a 35-year lease which commenced in May 1991. Located on the second floor of the centre, Unit 216 extends to 1,249 sq. ft, most of it retailing space with some office/storage accommodation to the rear. The Irish Independent, 5^th September

Nutgrove Avenue, Dublin 14 Agar is handling the long-lease let of a new retail/retail warehouse unit of approx. 5,920 sq. ft at the popular Nutgrove Retail Park in Nutgrove Avenue in Dublin 14. The ground-floor unit with a 7,049 sq. ft mezzanine will be available in Q2 2025 in a ‘grey box’ shell format. The Business Post, 7^th September

Talbot Street, Dublin 1 English-language school, ICOT College, has agreed a deal to lease the entire of Block A at Joyce’s Court on Talbot Street in Dublin city centre for its new headquarters. The college will occupy the building on a new 25-year lease with a break option at year 15 and will pay a rent of approx. €27 per sq. ft with tenant incentives. The Irish Times, 4^th September

INDUSTRIAL / LOGISTICS

Naas, Co Kildare TWM has launched the sale of two parcels of industrial zoned land totalling approx. 19.26 acres along the M7 Corridor at Jigginstown in Naas at a guide price of €7.2m (€375k per acre) for the entire. The two sites are flexibly offered in lots including 16.3 acres in Lot 1; the second lot comprises 2.96 acres; and Lot 3 covers the entire. The Business Post, 7^th September

Arklow, Co Wicklow Four industrial units at Knockanrahan Industrial Estate, Arklow, Co Wicklow have come to the market and agent Knight Frank is quoting a combined guide price of more than €1.35m (€38 psf). The properties offer a total of 35,451 sq. ft gross external floor area and are situated on a 2.65-acre site. Units 1 A, B and C have their own entrance and are vacant. Unit 2 is a detached building with separate access to the front and is let on a short-term lease expiring on June 30, 2025 at an annual rent of €40k. The Irish Independent, 5^th September

Athlone, Co Westmeath Harvey has launched a 79,000 sq. ft warehouse facility in Athlone to the letting market. The Flancare Facility in the Blyry Business and Commercial Park is available for immediate occupation. The three-storey offices provide a mix of small and large offices, a canteen, boardroom and reception. The Business Post, 7^th September

STUDENT ACCOMMODATION

Queen Street, Galway Elkstone has teamed up with Harrison Street, a global institutional investor, to develop an eight-storey, 345-bed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme in Galway. The development on Queen Street, Galway City, is the second PBSA project developed by Elkstone and Harrison Street. It follows the recently opened 142-bed Stoneybatter Place in Dublin. The Galway project is due for completion in 2026. The Business Post, 5^th September

MIXED-USE

Aungier Street, Dublin 2 Lisney is guiding a price of €2.75m for No. 16 Aungier Street. The subject property comprises a ground-floor restaurant unit and six bedrooms within a four-storey mid-terrace building of 3,555 sq. ft. No. 16 comes to the market fully let with an overall rent roll of €188.42k pa. The ground-floor unit is let to the Chinese restaurant Bigfan, producing an income of €50k pa. The residential units produce an annual rental income of €138.42k. The Irish Times, 4^th September

Residential / Development

Grattan Street, Dublin 2 Nos. 8/9 Grants Row and 14 Grattan Street are being guided at an overall price of €5.75m through Lisney. The subject property comprises a total of 17 bedrooms, all of which are being sold with the benefit of vacant possession and with no rental cap in place. The subject property comprises two buildings. 8/9 Grants Row is a vacant three-storey building currently in residential use, with a total area of approx. 7,004 sq. ft. The building has 17 bedrooms, six kitchens, nine bathrooms and 18 storage units. 14 Grattan Street briefly comprises a two-storey period terrace house extending to approx. 861 sq. ft. The Irish Times, 4^th September

Donegal A residential development site with potential for 194 houses in Donegal town is being offered for sale by a local businessman and the joint selling agents Cushman & Wakefield and Anderson Estates are guiding more than €2.75m for it. Situated 1km south-east of the town centre, the site extends to just under 22 acres. The Irish Independent, 5^th September

Merrion Road, South Co Dublin Joint agents Knight Frank and CBRE have just launched a waterfront development opportunity located on the Merrion Road in South Co Dublin at a guide price of €5m. The 4.8 acre site is situated beside the Merrion House office building and lands opposite the entrance to the Elm Park office and residential development. An Bord Pleanála granted permission in July 2023 for a unique recreational development. The development has a proposed internal area of approx. 68,135 sq. ft, which includes a large restaurant of 4,865 sq. ft. The Business Post, 6^th September

Kilbarry, Cork An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the development of more than 319 homes in Cork city on land owned by the GAA. The GAA bought the 36.5 acres site in the 1960s on the northside of Cork city. It has since been zoned as residential for housing. The proposed development is located next to the Old Whitechurch Road in Kilbarry and includes 319 homes and a créche. The Irish Times, 10^th September

BNP Paribas Ireland Report Construction activity in Ireland remained stable in August despite emerging labour constrains in the sector, according to new figures. According to the August construction activity index from BNP Paribas Ireland, commercial construction grew for the first time in three months, while housing activity registered a slight contraction following a five-month sequence of expansion. The Business Post, 9^th September

Stamp Duty The rate of stamp duty on the bulk purchase of new homes by so-called vulture funds should be doubled to 20%, according to Fine Gael, amid mounting pressure on the coalition to tackle the housing crisis. The proposal places housing firmly at the centre of the forthcoming general election campaign and will be viewed as an attempt by Fine Gael to outflank Fianna Fail before the budget next month. Earlier this year Michael McGrath, as the Fianna Fail finance minister, ruled out increasing the rate. The Sunday Times, 8^th September

Housing Investment The head of one of Ireland’s biggest landlords has said uncertainty surrounding the upcoming general election is one of the major hurdles facing institutional investors in housing. John Keegan, managing director of Kennedy Wilson in Ireland, said many investors are also put off investing in the Irish market due to the 2% cap on increasing rents. The Business Post, 6^th September

Rental Market The lack of supply in the “dysfunctional” Irish housing market is feeding to an increasingly adversarial dynamic between landlords and tenants, according to an industry body for chartered surveyors. In its pre-budget submission, the SCSI called for the establishment of a dedicated rental adjudication body, or “rental court”, within the RTB. The Business Post, 9^th September

Housing Shortfall Ireland’s housing deficit has widened drastically in the last two years, with the country’s housing shortfall standing at up to 290,000 homes in 2024, according to Cairn Homes. The homebuilder estimated that population growth and insufficient housing delivery had driven Ireland’s housing deficit to a minimum of 248,980 homes to a maximum of 292,480. This is a marked increase on the Housing Commission’s estimated deficit based on Census 2022 figures, which ranged from 212,500 to 256,000 homes. The company’s interim results noted that Ireland’s annual housing need “far exceeds” the current 50,000 a year target pledged by the government. The Business Post, 5^th September

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 €3m, and has lent over €200m to clients since April 2015.