15th April (Issue 492)
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
Blackrock, Co. Dublin Several new tenants have joined the line-up at the Frascati Centre, while an existing tenant is taking additional space in the centre. Homecare Medical, The Warehouse Gym, Boots and SoHo Baby have signed for approx. 40,000 sq. ft of space between them across three floors. The majority of the take-up was accounted for by The Warehouse Gym, which has agreed to occupy 26,608 sq. ft on the first and second floor. Boots, which already occupied a 2,992 sq. ft space on the ground floor, has taken almost 10,000 sq. ft in two ground-floor units. While the first floor of the centre is now fully let, there are units available for lease on the ground floor, and these range in size from 300 sq. ft to the 5,692 sq. ft formerly occupied by Debenhams. The former garden centre located in the rear car park is also available to let. The Irish Times, 9th April
Kilkenny City Colliers is guiding €4m for a property at the junction of Parliament Street, High Street and the Abbey Urban Quarter, which extends to 9,551 sq. ft. The building is let to Bank of Ireland under a 25-year lease from December 2006 and expiring in December 2031. The passing rent is €263,387 pa, providing a NIY of 5.98%. The property also offers parking for 13 cars to the rear, in addition to a large car park positioned behind the property at Market Yard. The location benefits from consistent footfall and strong connectivity, with Kilkenny train station and transport links within minutes of the property. The property sits on a 0.22-acre site, offering potential for future development, and is not listed as a protected structure. The Irish Times, 9th April
OFFICE
College Square, Dublin 2 US technology giant Workday has signed a deal to locate its new European headquarters to Marlet Property Group’s newly built scheme in Dublin 2. Workday will take 416,000 sq. ft of the office space at College Square, which represents the entirety of College Square’s “super-prime” office space. This deal is the largest single office letting to have taken place in the European office market since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. Developed by Marlet and its partner, M&G Investments, on sites occupied formerly by Apollo House and the neighbouring College House, College Square is a major mixed-use scheme comprising a total of 540,000 sq. ft of LEED Platinum office accommodation and 17,000 sq. ft of retail space distributed over 10 floors. The development has an overall height of 22 storeys owing to the inclusion of 58 high-end apartments on 12 floors above the office element of the scheme. The Irish Times, 10th April
South Docklands Atland Voisin has added to its Irish portfolio with the acquisition of Central Quay in Dublin’s South Docks for approx. €42m. In 2015 Hibernia, then a Reit, acquired the six-storey office block for €51.3m. Located between Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Hanover Quay, the building extends to approx. 59,000 sq. ft. At the time that the Reit acquired Central Quay, it was 88% let but since then it has been fully let and Hibernia also upgraded its BER to B3. Key occupiers are: DAE Ireland, Hines, Meritus Healthcare. Peninsula Petroleum, Millennium Operations, Europ Assistance and Fragomen. Atland Voisin initially entered the Irish market last year when it purchased 20 On Hatch, a six-storey-over-basement office building of 44,735 sq. ft on Lower Hatch Street. It was mostly let to global financial services provider MetLife and was bought for €24m which represented a 9% discount on the guide price quoted by vendor Davy Real Estate. The Irish Independent, 10th April
INDUSTRIAL
Baldonnell, Dublin 22 Mountpark has secured its first tenant for Grange Castle West, the €325m logistics scheme it is developing near Baldonnell. A Post has agreed a deal to occupy Unit 3, a 50,000 sq. ft building, as part of its plans to expand and modernise its delivery operation. The company is expected to take occupancy of the building, subject to planning permission being obtained for its construction, in early 2027. Grange Castle West is Mountpark’s second major logistics development in the Irish market and is located just 2km away from its Mountpark Baldonnell scheme. Extending across 78 acres and with capacity for up to 1.24m sq. ft of logistics space, site-wide infrastructure works are now under way, alongside three buildings which will be available from the third quarter of this year. The Irish Times, 9th April
HOSPITALITY
McKeever Hotel Group has bought the landmark City of Armagh Hotel, a modern 103-bedroom hotel. The hotel has a significant conference business as it has the capacity to cater for up to 1,200 delegates, which was the largest conference capacity in Northern Ireland attached to a hotel. The deal will bring to seven the number of hotels owned by McKeever, all but one of which are in Northern Ireland – the exception being Dillons Hotel in the Cathedral Quarter on Letterkenny’s main street. City of Armagh Hotel was sold by a local group of business people for a price believed to be just below the £9m (€10.4m) which CBRE had been guiding for it. Sitting on a site with parking for 365 cars, its extensive leisure facilities also generated business as its fully equipped gym and fitness studios had enlisted outside membership of 650. The Irish Independent, 10th April
RESIDENTIAL/DEVELOPMENT
North Quays, Waterford City Harcourt Developments has been granted planning permission for a €200m redevelopment of the North Quays in Waterford City. The mixed-use proposal, designed by Douglas Wallace Architects, will see the construction of nine blocks, including 350 apartments split across six blocks, a nine-storey 160-room hotel, a 163-room apart hotel and a ninth block featuring office, retail and childcare. The apartment blocks will be separated by green spaces with a riverside boardwalk and link to the Waterford-New Ross Greenway. Two new civic plazas will also be built, Station Square and the Bridge Plaza, at the connection to a sustainable transport bridge which the council expects to be delivered from Belgium in May. The council estimates that the direct benefit to the region from the construction project will be more than €350m over the next six years. The building phase is expected to employ 200 people and create 1,500 jobs upon completion. The Irish Times, 12th April
Leeson Park, Dublin 6 The landmark Christ Church Leeson Park has been brought to the market by Lisney at a guide price of €4.75m. The property is being offered for sale by tender at 2pm on Thursday, May 29th. At the corner of Dartmouth Road/Leeson Park and Leeson Street Upper, the property extends to approx. 9,472 sq. ft and is on a one-acre site. The subject site is zoned Z2 Residential and potential uses include medical, healthcare, residential and childcare. The church was built originally between 1860 and 1862. The property is listed on the Dublin City Council List of Protected Structures and is held on a freehold basis. There is potential for short-term income from car parking. The Irish Times, 9th April
Amiens Street, Dublin 1 Sea Strand Properties is seeking planning permission to demolish a petrol station on a site in Amiens Street, Dublin 1, near Connolly train station and build 246-bed student accommodation including a gym, cinema and games room. The proposed development will range between six and nine storeys. John Sweeney was previously granted planning permission for the same site in 2019 for a €32m 172-bedroomed hotel. The Sunday Times, 13th April
Spencer Place, Dublin 1 Four parties remain in the running to acquire Spencer Place, the high-end residential scheme developed by Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) in Dublin’s north docklands. Offers for the portfolio of 393 apartments are understood to have come in between €160m and €170m in the first round of bidding, with seven parties either bidding or expressing their interest in the scheme. While the sums offered are understood to be below what had been expected by the scheme’s owner, Fortress Investment Group, this Friday’s second round may yet result in a higher bid. Hines, Carysfort Capital, MEAG and one other party are understood to have tabled bids in the first round of the sales process while Ares Management, Ardstone Capital and Axa are each said to have expressed their interest in the portfolio. The Irish Times, 9th April
Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Avison Young is guiding €2m for a residential refurbishment and redevelopment opportunity in Drumcondra. Located at Carberry Road, and next to the grounds of Maryfield College, the property comprises two large semidetached family houses with a total floor area of approximately 4,021 sq. ft which are interconnected at ground and attic levels. The property is positioned on a regular-shaped site area of approximately 0.45 acres, offering the prospective purchaser significant development potential. The subject site is located entirely within an area zoned “Z1 – Residential” with a feasibility study illustrating its potential to accommodate two additional, large two-/three-storey, four-bedroom semidetached family residences or three, two-/three-storey townhouses. The Irish Times, 9th April
Clonskeagh, Dublin 14 Five fully let apartments at Roebuck House are generating combined rental income of €148,000 pa and are being offered to the market by Townshends Auctioneers at a guide price of €2.8m. The accommodation extends to an overall area of 6,000 sq. ft and is distributed across one three-bedroom and four two-bedroom apartments within a well-appointed, detached period redbrick house. The property retains numerous original features, and these are complemented by the house’s contemporary fit-out. Each apartment has its own individual Eircode, electricity meter and gas boiler. The Irish Times, 9th April
Courtmacsherry Bay, Co. Cork The chance to buy a real Disney castle and 56 acres of land thrown in has come to the market in coastal West Cork. Coolmain Castle, expected to fetch over €7.5m, dates back to the late 1700s. Located west of Kinsale, it has been in private Disney family hands since 1989. Coolmain Castle evolved from a Georgian-era country home, with a turreted tower built as an ocean lookout in the 1800s, and has been used as an Irish hideaway home by generations of the Disney family after Roy E. Disney purchased it 36 years ago. The Examiner, 11th April
Kinsealy, Dublin 17 Plans by the LDA to construct 193 residential units on a site of the former Teagasc research centre on Malahide Road are facing local opposition. In February, the LDA lodged plans with Fingal Co Council for the large-scale residential development after Teagasc agreed to transfer the lands to the LDA for the development of affordable housing in accordance with the LDA’s statutory mandate to accelerate the delivery of such housing throughout Ireland. The scheme envisages the construction of 193 residential dwellings comprising 153 two-storey houses and 40 duplex units arranged in three-storey blocks on a site located to the south of Kinsealy village centre. The scheme also provides for 229 car parking spaces, 345 bicycle spaces and four acres of dedicated public open space. In addition, 5.4 acres of greenbelt zoned lands are included to the south and southeast of the residential development area to accommodate a playing pitch. The Irish Times, 9th April
OTHER
The National Treasury Management Agency has tapped the European Investment Bank (EIB) on behalf of Uisce Éireann for a €300m loan to help bankroll part of its water infrastructure upgrade programme. The loan will form part of a wider €764m programme of works being undertaken by the semi-state company that’s responsible for maintaining and developing the country’s water infrastructure. The EIB said the funding will help to finance a multi-annual investment programme to improve water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. The government has allocated €1bn to Uisce Éireann for capital investment works that will be undertaken between 2025 and 2028. Uisce Éireann invested €1.35bn in capital projects last year. The Irish Independent, 9th April
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