14th July (Issue 3)
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.
PORTFOLIO / LOAN SALES
Project Arch:
NAMA has chosen CarVal, Apollo and Deutsche Bank as the three final bidders for the Project Arch portfolio. Project Arch is a €608m par value non-performing loan portfolio linked to five borrowers including Jerry O’Reilly, Terry Sweeney and Ronan O’Caoimh. The three finalists are believed to have bid in the €150m – €160m range, with the value of the portfolio’s real estate assets estimated at c. €170m. CoStar Finance, 10th July
Project Arrow:
NAMA has launched its €7.2bn par value Project Arrow portfolio, reduced from €8.4bn, consisting of 1,532 loans to 367 borrowers. No loan in the portfolio has a balance above €10m, while no real estate asset is believed to have a value above €5m. The portfolio is also well diversified amongst the real estate asset classes with 39% being residential, 35% commercial, 24% land and development and 2% being hotel and leisure. CoStar Finance, 10th July
Project Trinity:
Eastdil Secured and Savills will welcome second round bids from five entities for Project Trinity, which represents the company that owns the Clyde Court Hotel and Ballsbridge Hotel, as part of a 6.8 acre freehold site. The bidders are Chartered Land, Cairn Homes, London & Regional, Capstone and Colony Capital / Paddy McKillen, who all bid between €145m – €155m. There is planning permission for 10-years on the site for the construction of 490 apartments and a 152 bed hotel, which doesn’t expire until 2021. Bidding is to close the week beginning the 20th of July. The Irish Times, 11th July
Oceanico Portfolio:
Savills has been appointed by NAMA to sell the Oceanico portfolio in Portugal, which consists of three beach resorts and five golf courses. Oceanico was run by Gerry Fagan and Simon Burgess prior to NAMA taking control of the group. Properties at the resorts in Amendoeira, Baia da Luz and Belmar are being advertised to both individual investors as well as large institutional investors. The Sunday Times, 12th July
Origin Capital approves €55m of credit in first 3 months.
Origin Capital has approved €55m of new facilities to clients in its first three months of operation across a variety of projects. Find out more
OFFICE
Guild House:
FBD Holdings have agreed to the early surrender of their leasehold interest in Guild House in Dublin’s IFSC, making a cash payment of €8.8m to Hibernia REIT to do so. FBD currently have a FRI lease on the 73,000 sq. ft. building at a rent of €2.9m p.a., however they have sub-let the entire building. The lease expires in March 2025, with a break option in March 2017. The €8.8m payment consists of a break penalty of one year’s rent, €2.4m to cover the shortfall of what Hibernia will receive from the sub-tenants until March 2017 and a figure for dilapidations. Hibernia purchased the building in January 2014 for €90.75m. The Irish Independent, 9th July
Office Take Up:
At over 1.2m sq. ft., the level of take up in the Dublin office market in H1 2015 was the strongest half yearly take up since 2007. The financial services sector was responsible for over 36% of this figure, as well as three of the five largest transactions. The largest take up was Bank of Ireland’s pre let of 129,500 sq. ft. on Upper Baggot Street, at a rent of €47.50 psf. Knight Frank, 7th July
Office Yields:
Savills economist John McCartney reports that the yield on Dublin city centre office properties has fallen to 4.3%, half of what it was three years ago. This yield is on a par with German cities but still above European capitals such as London (3%) and Madrid (4%). McCartney also predicts that prime office rents will climb from €50 psf to €55 psf by the end of the year. The Sunday Times, 12th July
HOTELS
Jurys Inn Reorganisation:
Jurys Inn is set to form part of a new hotel company known as Amaris Hospitality, which is being created by the group’s owners, Lone Star. Lone Star are to combine the 29 hotels of Jurys Inns with a further 60 hotels they own under the Amaris umbrella, which will consist of 15,000 rooms with turnover of c. £450m. John Brennan, the chief executive of Jurys is to lead the group, which will be headquartered in Dublin. Lone Star will invest £100m in Amaris, with an eye towards a possible flotation of the group over time. The Irish Times, 7th July
Dawson Hotel:
Tetrarch Capital, who already own hotels such as The Marker, Mount Juliet and Citywest, are to purchase the Dawson Hotel from an AIB appointed receiver for €17.5m. Tetrarch has significant plans to refurbish and expand the 4-star 36 bed hotel, which includes a pub, nightclub and spa across 36,000 sq. ft. The previous owner, Louis Murray, purchased the hotel for €8.5m in 1999 and invested a further €6m in the hotel. The Irish Times, 8th July
RETAIL
Stephen’s Green:
Irish Life has appointed JLL to sell 35.4% of their 73% shareholding in Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, with a guide price of €45.6m. The 35.4% stake in the shopping centre offers annual income of c. €3m. Stephen’s Green contains over 90 shops spread across three levels (320,000 sq. ft.), with rental income of €6.2m from the units and €2.2m from the car park. The remaining 27% of the shopping centre is owned by developer Pierce Molony. The Irish Times, 8th July
Dun Laoghaire:
Dun Laoghaire is to undergo a major transformation over the next five years which will see it become one of Ireland’s leading shopping locations. Under the Dun Laoghaire 20:20 vision, the main street, George’s Street is to be split into four sections; interiors, retail, business / financial and cultural / artisan. The improvement of George’s Street has been identified as one of the key areas in a ten point plan to revive Dun Laoghaire. The Sunday Business Post, 12th July
RESIDENTIAL
House Prices:
The latest figures from Daft.ie show that Dublin house prices reported an overall 0.6% increase in Q2 2015, with national prices overall up by 1.9% in the same period. This national increase was supported by 4.4% growth in Cork and 3.8% in Galway. The national average house price is now €202k, down from a peak of €370k in 2007. The Irish Times, 7th July
Millennium Park:
Tetrarch Capital, purchaser of the Dawson Hotel, is in exclusive negotiations with a NAMA controlled developer to purchase the Millennium Park complex in Naas for over €35m. Millennium Park consists of a business park generating c. €1.6m in rent p.a., over 100 acres of unzoned agricultural land and c. 230 acres of development land. The current owners, Osberstown Developments, paid over €310m for the complex in 2006, making it one of the most costly land transactions of the boom. PIMCO are to back Tetrarch in the deal. The Irish Times, 7th July
Dublin Social Housing:
Dublin City Council has received more than 60 expressions of interest from developers, investors and housing bodies to complete a 1,500 unit social housing project spread across 30 hectares of Dublin City Council land. It is to be Dublin City Council’s first major project since the property crash and the properties are intended for people on the social housing waiting list as well as private tenants. The sites are located in Coolock Lane, to the west of Ballyfermot and at the junction of Malahide Road and Belcamp Lane. The Irish Times, 8th July
Lad Lane Apartments:
Savills are inviting offers in excess of €10m for 40 apartments in Lad Lane, Dublin 2. The complex, which comprises 25 one bed and 15 two bed apartments, currently offers rental income of €390k p.a. with a further €70.8k p.a. coming from a car park licence agreement. The total area of the apartments is 35,000 sq. ft. with 37 car spaces on ground level. With the complex being 30 years old, the new owners are likely to either extend and refurbish the complex or replace it with a new development, possibly as offices due to the location. The Irish Times, 8th July
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