11th June (Issue 451)
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.
MIXED-USE
Dublin 9 Agents Hooke & MacDonald and Savills are jointly handling the sale of the suburban offices at Swift Square together with two residential sites with the potential for 694 apartments in total at Metro Park within Northwood Demesne, Dublin 9. The agents are guiding €48.5m for the entire collection. The two modern stand-alone office blocks span a total of approx. 157,852 sq. ft. They generate a contracted rent of approx. €4.2m pa between them. Swift Square’s adjoining surface car park has full planning permission for 192 apartments on a site of approx. 2.8 acres. This lot is guiding a price of €38.5m. The second lot comprises the Metro Park development site, an L-shaped greenfield site of approx. 3.6 acres. This is guiding €10m. The Business Post, 8th June
South William Street, Dublin 2 Nos. 4-5 South William Street is being offered to the market by CBRE at a guide price of €3.6m. The subject property is producing an annual income of €241.5k (6.1% NIY) and extends to 6,352 sq. ft. The four-storey property has undergone a comprehensive restoration and will be occupied by Little Pyg at basement and part ground-floor level. The remaining ground-floor space at 4-5 South William Street is occupied by the Casa Craft clothing and gift store. The second, third and fourth floors of the building comprise three fully refurbished two-bedroom apartments, with one apartment located on each level. The Irish Times, 5th June
HOSPITALITY
Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Linsey is selling The Ivy House pub and adjoining properties in Drumcondra in lots with combined guide prices exceeding €3.25m. The more valuable lot is the pub itself and an adjoining retail premises for which Lisney is guiding in excess of €2.85m. It includes the detached three-storey over-basement pub premises. Sitting on a 0.13-acre site, this lot also comes with an expired planning permission for the amalgamation of two adjoining retail units into the licensed premises footprint to provide new bar and lounge areas. To the rear of that property is the second lot comprising a 0.17-acre site containing a disused residence and a semi-detached warehouse property. It has a €400k+ guide price. The Irish Independent, 6th June
Ranelagh, Dublin 6 A consortium of former Irish rugby internationals led by publican Noel Anderson is understood to have agreed to purchase McSorley’s pub in Ranelagh for €5.5m from its long-standing owner, the Murray family. The Irish Times, 5th June
Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 Hospitality entrepreneur Frank Gleeson is selling the former Páidí Ógs public house in Mulhuddart village which has full planning permission for 40 apartment units. Savills is guiding €1.75m for the site that extends to 1.23 acres (€1.42m per acre). The Irish Independent, 6th June
OFFICE
Cherrywood, South Dublin The High Court has granted a development firm permission to serve proceedings at short notice on companies in the Johnny Ronan group in a dispute over the development of a €35m office building in Cherrywood. DLR Properties Ltd has brought proceedings against RGRE Devco 4 Ltd and RGRE Ltd seeking declarations that a development agreement between the parties was validly terminated as a result of breaches by the defendants. The planned office site is 1.3 acres of an overall 13.3-acre site in Cherrywood. The Irish Times, 7th June
Dame Street, Dublin 2 The former headquarters of the Central Bank has opened for business as the new flagship location of WeWork’s Dublin operation. One Central Plaza, as it is now known, comprises 73,000 sq. ft of flexible office space distributed over eight floors in the landmark 1970s block. It will offer the flexible workspace giant’s members the use of 1,500 desks along with office suites, conference rooms, as well as bookable office space and phone booths. The Irish Times, 4th June
HEALTHCARE / NURSING HOMES
Portmarnock, Portlaoise and Kilkenny Emeis has inked a sale-and-leaseback deal for a portfolio of three nursing homes in Ireland with Healthcare Activos for €56m. The homes are recently built and have a combined capacity of 332 beds. They are in Portmarnock, Portlaoise and Kilkenny, with Emeis to operate the facilities. React News, 4th June
Student Accommodation
Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 Marlet Property Group’s The Residence student accommodation development in Stoneybatter will be ready for the 2024-2025 academic year, the company has confirmed, with 193 student beds available. The project is Marlet’s first venture into student housing. The announcement of new student accommodation provision from Marlet came as JLL warned that in Ireland the shortage of available student beds throughout the academic year is likely to intensify as the decade progresses. Bisnow, 10th June
Residential / Development
Howth, North Dublin A unit of Glenveagh Homes has lodged plans for a €60m 135-apartment scheme for a 3.8-acre site adjoining Howth Demesne in Deer Park at Howth. Glenveagh subsidiary, GLL PRS Holdco Limited is seeking to build the apartments in four blocks ranging from three to five storeys in height. The developers are proposing that 14 units be sold to Fingal County Council for social housing. A Part V costings report lodged with the application has put an indicative price tag of €6.17m on the 14 apartments (two-bedroom apartments for €472k and one bedroom apartment for €410k). The Irish Times, 6th June
BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland Report Total construction activity in Ireland stalled last month, posting fractionally below the 50 mark (49.8) denoting no change, according to the latest construction PMI from BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland. Increases in new orders, staffing levels and firms’ optimism in May all point to further expansion in the sector. Housing (52.0) and commercial construction (51.4) activity increased at slower rates than in April. While new orders continued to rise in May (52.9) for the third month in a row, as firms took on new business, the rate of increase was slower than that recorded in April (53.9). The Business Post, 10th June
Stillorgan, South Dublin DNG is guiding €4m for a prime residential site with full planning permission for the development of an apartment scheme at Beaufield Mews in Stillorgan. Located on the site of the former Beaufield Mews restaurant and antique shop, the subject site comes for sale with full approval from Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for 30 large apartments in a four-storey block and 31 surface-level car-parking spaces. The Irish Times, 5th June
Pretax profit at Park Developments last year increased by approx. a third to €23.45m as lower costs offset a 12.5% drop in revenue in the 12 months to June 29th. Sharper control of costs saw the business deliver a net profit margin of approx. 10%, up significantly on the 6.4% margin the previous year. A fall-off in business on the commercial contracting side, where revenue slumped by 38% to €44.57m, was largely responsible for the lower turnover with the company reporting overall sales of €222.14m, down from €254.4m. At the end of June 2023 the firm had shareholder funds of €159.48m, including accumulated profit of €151.48m. The Irish Times, 4th June
New Building Inspection Less than 12% of new buildings in some counties are being inspected to see if they comply with regulations, the head of the SCSI has warned. The comments come as estimates for dealing with mica, pyrite and apartment defects are expected to exceed €5bn. Local authorities are required to inspect just 12-15% of new buildings notified to them. However, two local authorities, Mayo and Sligo, inspected only 7 and 11% of new builds respectively. In contrast, 80% of new buildings were inspected in Dublin in 2022. The head of the SCSI said in 2023 local authorities spent just €20m on enforcing building control regulations, a fraction of the sums now needed to pay for defects. The Irish Times, 10th June
Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary A 127.8ac holding at Ballynacloona, Carrick-on-Suir in the southern reaches of the Premier County is coming to auction and is guided by Shelley and Purcell estate agents at between €2.5m and €3m. It includes a two-storey residence and a cut-stone building that contains two self-catering apartments. The farm is 8.5km northwest of Carrick- on-Suir. The land has two and a half years remaining in a lease arrangement that is paying a rental income of €36k pa and it also commands farm entitlements of €12k pa. The property will be sold by auction at Hotel Minella, Clonmel on June 12. The Irish Independent, 10th June
Ballymacarbry, Co Waterford A 94-acre dispersed farm in a range of lots in Co Waterford is being auctioned. The non-residential holding is located at Ballycreggane, Ballymacarbry and is divided by the road into parcels of 28ac and 66ac. It is coming to auction with a guide price of €15k per acre. Separately, a 15-acre parcel of elevated ground at Sillaheen, Ballymacarbry and a 3-acre field with frontage on to two roads at Castlequarter, Ballymacarbry is also being sold at the same auction. The Irish Independent, 10th June
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