15th June (Issue 301)

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

The Park Collection Sale Joint agents Savills and Cushman & Wakefield are selling The Park Collection on behalf of Marathon Asset Management, quoting a guide price in excess of €78 million for the entire. The collection comprises three established retail parks at Belgard Retail Park in Dublin, M1 Retail Park in Louth and Poppyfield Retail Park in Tipperary which are also available for sale individually. Belgard Retail Park is fully occupied and anchored by B&Q. Other occupiers include Home Store + More, Dealz, Carpet Right, Halfords, Right Style Furniture, Burger King Drive Thru and Starbucks. There is surface car parking for 482 cars. The total current annual rent is c.€3.13 million with a Wault (weighted average unexpired lease term) of 7.3 years. Poppyfield Retail Park is a dominant retail park occupying a pivotal location on the western side of Clonmel town. Woodie’s DIY and SuperValu are the anchor tenants and other noteworthy businesses in the park include Harry Corry, Maxi Zoo, EZ Living, World of Wonder and D.I.D Electrical. The total current rental income is c.€1.43 million per annum and a Wault of about seven years. M1 Retail Park, is located just off the M1 Motorway in Drogheda. Much of the scheme constitutes retail and leisure use (89 per cent) and is anchored by Woodie’s DIY. The park boasts a strong and diverse range of tenants including Smyth’s Toys, Sports Direct/Brand Max, Dealz, Equipet and EZ Living, among others. The total current rent is c.€2.44 million per annum with a Wault of 8.4 years. The Business Post, 13th June

New Look The Sunday Times report that New Look has agreed deals with some of its landlords, months after it lost an application for an examiner to be appointed to its Irish operations. A recent filing on the property price register shows that the company has entered a five-year lease at an average annual rent of €300,000 for its Wilton Shopping Centre store in Cork. It was previously paying €365,000. It has also struck deals with its landlords at Opera Lane and Blackpool in Cork, the Square and Northside shopping centres in Dublin and Cruise Street in Limerick. Property sources say the register filings may indicate base rents only, and that leases are on flexible terms. The Sunday Times, 13th June

Adidas, Kildare Village Adidas will open its first standalone Irish store in Kildare Village this autumn. The German sportswear brand will open the shop in the so-called phase three project, a multimillion-euro development that will add 31 new brands and a multistorey car park to the outlet shopping complex. It is estimated that the new development will create 500 jobs. A number of new brands are scheduled to open at the outlet. Irish athleisure brand Gym+Coffee opened a shop there. Fashion brands Pinko and Zadig & Voltaire and footwear chain Skechers are due to open locations this summer, alongside Murphy’s Ice Cream. The Sunday Times, 13th June

 

INDUSTRIAL

South West Business Park Industrial and logistics specialist Rohan Holdings has launched its latest business park in south Dublin. The commencement of works on South West Business Park, as it will be known, will bring Rohan’s pipeline of speculative logistics units either available or under construction to 500,000sq ft by the end of this year. Located on the R136 outer ring road, off the M7, the new scheme will account for just over 300,000sq ft of that space upon completion. The planning application for the first four units at South West Business Park has already been submitted, while the application for the fifth is due to be submitted later this month. The units range from 20,000sq ft-162,500sq ft and will have extensive frontage on to the outer ring road. The proposed specification includes secure yards of up to 50m, clear internal heights of up to 14m and air-conditioned offices. In terms of environmental sustainability and staff wellbeing, there will be a “greenway” through the park, while the units will have LEED Silver accreditation and a generous provision of amenities for staff. The Irish Times, 9th June

Ballycoolin, Dublin 11 An infill development site of 4.35 acres in the Stadium Business Park in Ballycoolin, Dublin 11, is being offered for sale with a price of €1.96m being quoted. The site is regular in shape and is zoned objective ‘GE’ under the terms of the Fingal Development Plan 2017-2023. The ‘GE’ zoning objective is “to provide opportunities for general enterprise and employment”. Philip Harvey of selling agent Harvey comments that the site has a proven planning history, and there is an expired permission for a high-density business unit scheme of 9,140sqm. The Irish Independent, 10th June

 

RESIDENTIAL / LAND

Tralee, Kerry The prospect of secure long term income is expected to see strong interest from a range of domestic and international investors in the sale of a Tralee apartment portfolio which is fully let to two Approved Housing Bodies. The investment which comprises 40 units in An Sean Mhuileann, North Circular Road and 29 units in Parklands, Ivy Terrace, is being offered to the market by agent Colliers at a guide price of €10.75 million. The portfolio is producing a current net income of €524,000 per annum and offers the prospective purchaser the opportunity of a 4.66 per cent net initial yield. In the case of An Sean Mhuileann, the Tuath Housing Association has taken 20-year leases on the 40 units with staggered commencement dates from July 2018 to October 2019. The gross annual rent payable for the 21 three-bed and 19 two-bed units is €362,355. The remaining 29 units at Parklands on Tralee’s North Circular Road have been taken on 20-year leases by Co-operative Housing Ireland with staggered commencement dates from July 2018 to September 2019. The gross annual rent payable for the 26 two-bedroom, two one-bedroom and one three-bedroom units is €255,510. The Irish Times, 9th June

Naas, Kildare Ballymore, the property development firm owned by Sean Mulryan, has applied to extend permission to develop a site in Naas, Co Kildare, which includes approval to build 385 units. The planning application to Kildare County Council shows that Ballymore is seeking to extend the permission granted in 2017 by five years as the current permission runs out in 2022. The developer is also delivering the final phase of its 250-unit development at Bellingsfield in Naas, and the first phase of its 370 family homes built around landscaped green spaces in Station Walk, Newbridge, Co Kildare. Ballymore has also started initial works on its latest scheme, River Walk, along the banks of the River Liffey in Ballymore Eustace. The Sunday Independent, 13th June

Marlet, Howth Marlet Property has begun construction works on an apartment development comprising 512 units at a site with an address known as ‘Claremont’ at the Former Techrete site on the Howth Road in Dublin 13. The project – valued at €101 million – will also contain four commercial units with 2,637 square metres gross floor area including a 1,705 square metre anchor unit, a restaurant (of 243 square metres), an 86 square metre café and one retail unit of 603 square metres. Works are expected to take in the region of 36 months to complete. The Business Post, 13th June

Bartra, Dublin 7 Bartra Capital has submitted a strategic housing development application for 1,047 residential units. The €400 million residential development is located at the Former O’Devaney Gardens Site in Dublin 7 and will comprise 23 three-bedroom houses and 1,024 apartment units containing one-bedroom/two-bedroom/three-bedroom units. The total gross floor space of the overall development is 102,940 square metres, of which 100,646 square metres is residential and 2,294 square metres are non-residential. A decision is expected to be made by September 2021. The Business Post, 13th June

Beach Road, Dublin 4 Maxol Property has submitted a strategic housing development application for a €25 million apartment development located at the Maxol Filling Station on Beach Road, Dublin 4. The overall application includes the demolition and removal of all existing buildings and associated structures above and below ground (totalling 1,311 square metres) and the construction of a six-storey apartment building, with set-backs at third, fourth and fifth floor levels. The scheme will include 112 apartments, split evenly between one and two-bed units, and 297 square metres of communal space primarily comprising a gym, lounge, work space, bookable room, office and parcel store over a single basement level. The basement will accommodate 79 car parking spaces, including two car club spaces, four motorbike parking spaces, 224 bicycle spaces, together with ancillary areas including circulation, plant, attenuation tank, waste management storage areas and service areas. The Business Post, 13th June

 

OFFICE

Reddit, Dublin Reddit, the US-based social media company, is currently searching for a new Dublin office as it plans to build out its team to 50 employees by the end of the year. The company, which opened its first office in St Stephens Green in 2019, is considering three locations. It has identified potential offices in Dublin’s Silicon Docks, the Quays and close to its current office on St Stephens Green. Reddit said the new roles would be adding for its Dublin hub would not be confined to the city. The positions would be available to those based outside of the capital as it has a flexible working policy. The social media company currently employs around 1,000 staff, has 52 million daily active users and 50 billion views each month. There are also over 100,000 communities on the website, with tens of thousands of volunteer moderators. The Sunday Independent, 13th June

 

MIXED USE

Central Plaza, Dublin 2 Hines, the international real estate firm, and Peterson Group, the Hong Kong based property investment company, have achieved full occupancy of the office space at Central Plaza on Dublin’s Dame Street, after securing an agreement with private investment manager, Neuberger Berman, for the remainder of the scheme’s accommodation. The deal, which was brokered by Knight Frank Ireland, will see the US headquartered investment firm occupy all 2,650sq ft of space on the second floor of 2 Central Plaza. News of the transaction comes just four months after The Irish Times reported the Pokémon Company’s agreement of a long-term lease for 5,000sq ft of office space at 2 Central Plaza, the classical commercial building immediately adjacent to the former San Stephenson-designed headquarters of the Central Bank (now known as One Central Plaza). Central Plaza also includes adjoining properties at 6-8 College Green and 9 College Green. The eight floors of office space at One Central Plaza have been leased to flexible workspace provider WeWork, and with Amtrust Financial occupying 6-8 College Green, the scheme is set to house more than 1,300 office workers. Upon completion, it is expected that the Dame Street complex will create more than 300 new full- and part-time retail and hospitality jobs across the five buildings. The Irish Times, 9th June

Churchtown, Dublin 14 Churchtown Business Park in south Dublin has been put up for sale. The 21-unit scheme, which is fully let and producing annual rental income of €484,000, is being offered to the market by agent Finnegan Menton for €7 million. The guide price reflects a yield of 6.25%. Churchtown Business Park extends to a total area of 41,260sq ft on a site of about of two acres. The scheme’s commercial units are in use as showrooms, workshops, stores and offices, and unit sizes generally range from about 1,400sq ft to 2,500sq ft, with one unit of 7,645sq ft. The current tenant line-up consists of a number of high-profile tenants including Senator Windows, Tipperary Crystal, Skön, Danish Kitchen Design, Avista Medical and Webshirts Limited t/a Louis Copeland. The Irish Times, 9th June

 

OTHER

BidX1 Auction A number of residential investment portfolios are featured in the next BidX1 auction on June 25 which will offer 250 lots with combined reserves of around €40 million. The most valuable lot is a tranche of eight apartments in Dublin’s Liberties which come with a €1.85 million price tag. Located at Apartments 8, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 28 and 29, Liberty View, Longs Place, Dublin 8, five of them are let (other 3 are vacant) at rents ranging from €10,723 to €11,808 per annum thus generating a combined €56,419 per annum. A commercial investment property with development potential on Nutgrove Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, has a €1 million guide price. Known as Ely House it includes an office building and warehouses. The building floor areas extend to 1,002 square metres. The two-storey Ely House itself has eight rooms occupied under informal tenancies and generates €43,320 per annum. The former Golf Hotel, Main Street, Ballybunion, Co Kerry is guiding €850,000 and there is a building on the South Mall in Cork guiding €850k. The Business Post, 13th June

Ballymahon, Longford Center Parcs has announced plans to invest a further €85 million in its Longford Forest holiday village, near Ballymahon, which will see it add 200 lodges to the 400ac site and create an additional 250 jobs. The company said it will submit a planning application for the expansion by the end of this year. Construction is likely to commence in 2023 and as well as the 250 permanent jobs to be created on the site, there is likely to be in the region of 300 jobs created during the construction phase. Center Parcs UK & Ireland’s chief executive Martin Dalby said that despite the pandemic, which saw the park closed for most of the last 12 months, the first two years of its operation in Ireland had been “a huge success” and he said the company had kept on its 1,000 staff, most of whom were from the local area, since the beginning of the pandemic. Dalby added that in spite of travel restrictions meaning visitors from the UK had been unable to visit the site since March of last year, there had been sufficient demand amongst Irish holiday makers to ensure that bookings had been solid during the periods when the site was allowed to re-open. Since it opened in July 2019, Center Parcs Longford Forest has had average occupancy of 90 per cent during peak periods. The Irish Times, 15th June

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