17th December (Issue 477)
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.
INDUSTRIAL / LOGISTICS
Blarney, Co Cork JCD Group’s Blarney Business Park is now heading to 750,000 sq. ft, making it one of Cork’s largest industrial and logistics locations. Paardekooper, an international company specialising in sustainable packaging, is taking the 27,000 sq. ft grade A block 9005, with 12m eaves, a signal LEED gold cert and A3 BER, on a lease at approx. €13 psf. Paardekooper is relocating from Boland Industrial Estate on the old Mallow Rd. Since buying the part-developed Blarney Business Park just north of the city JCD Group has added 410,000 sq. ft and will complete it in 2025 to some 750,000 sq. ft in total, adding four more LEED gold buildings of 10,000 sq. ft to 57,000 sq. ft in an approx. €20m further investment. The Irish Examiner, 12th December
MIXED-USE
Kevin Street, Dublin 2 Bentall GreenOak, a Florida-based property investment firm, has appointed Nick O’Dwyer and John Boland of Grant Thornton as Joint Receivers over the €475m Camden Yard project. Westridge acquired the site from TU Dublin in August 2019 for approx. €140m, nearly twice the €80m guiding price. Work on the €475m mixed-use project at the former DIT campus on Kevin Street halted in recent months, as the Developer attempted to raise fresh finance. Bentall GreenOak provided the senior debt with Fairfield Real Estate Finance providing the mezzanine debt. The Currency, 13th December
OFFICE
Leeson Street, Dublin 2 Kroll Advisory Ireland has signed a long-term lease to occupy the second floor of 18 Lower Leeson Street. The property, formerly known as Ossary House, has generated substantial interest since an extensive renovation was carried out by Aviva. Renovations include locker facilities, along with improving its sustainability credentials to LEED Gold with an A3 building energy rating. The building extends to 24,455 sq. ft of office space. Tenants include those from the aviation, financial and insurance sectors and the building is now 60% leased, based on the recent lettings to Kroll, Falko and Lockton. The Business Post, 13th December
Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 Zurich Insurance’s Technical Centre of Excellence for EMEA and Zurich Treasury Services have taken up office space on the fourth floor of 76 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. The let comes some two years after the insurer had agreed to lease space on two floors in the state-of-the-art, A-rated building at an annual rent of €751k. Zurich delayed its office move until several defects identified in Zurich’s office space were remedied by the landlord, AM Alpha Lux Invest 130 SARL. It now has a new lease for approx. 9,700 sq. ft on the fourth floor of the building. The uptake leaves only the ground and third floors of the building – 13,150 sq. ft, or 18% of the building’s total space, now available to let. The Business Post, 13th December
Connaught House, Dublin 4 Fine Grain Property has acquired Connaught House, with tenants including Alkermes Pharma, Philip Lee, Macquarie, and CBRE. This investment closed at below the €80m asking price and represents an attractive net initial yield of more than 7.5% with the potential to be repositioned or developed into sustainable, income-generating investment properties. The seven-storey property provides 116,000 sq. ft of lettable space, which is currently 86% occupied. The property has a WAULT of 4 years to the next break. Fine Grain will invest €10m to sustainably reposition Connaught House as a best-in-class sustainable workplace community offering BER A energy rated spaces, from the current D1. This acquisition expands Fine Grain’s Irish portfolio to 21 properties valued at €370m, comprising 1.3m sq. ft. Lauder Teacher Press Release, 17th December
Purpose Built Student Accommodation
Goatstown, Dublin 14 Orchid Residential, a property development firm owned by the O’Reilly Hylands, said it hopes to build a 220-bed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) development in Goatstown ranging from four to six storeys. It intends to apply for planning permission for the large-scale residential development from Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. Orchid has already tried to build a 239-bed student accommodation development on the same site. In late 2020, it lodged an application to build the property with An Bord Pleanála, who granted the proposal the following February. O’Reilly Hyland said Orchid was also considering delivering student accommodation in other European cities. However, the validity of the permission was queried in the High Court and, on the consent of An Bord Pleanála, was quashed in March 2022. It is understood the proposed development would represent an additional investment of approx. €30m above what it cost Orchid to buy the land. There is currently a shortage of PBSA across Ireland. In September, a paper published by the Department of Education showed that publicly owned PBSA was oversubscribed by approx. 29,773 applications for the 2023/2024 academic year. The Irish Independent, 15th December
RESIDENTIAL /DEVELOPMENT
Terenure, Dublin 6 Builders Lioncor are planning for a 284-unit Large Scale Residential scheme at Terenure College, Dublin. The plans come approx. 2 years after An Bord Pleanála refused Lioncor for a build to rent 364 unit scheme on former playing pitches at Terenure College. Now, Lioncor subsidiary 1 Cellbridge West Land Ltd is proposing a scaled down plan omitting 80 units from the original scheme. The new plans will be designed as a “build to sell” development to meet the needs within the Dublin 6 area facilitating people downsizing their home who wish to remain in the locality as well as providing new housing stock. The scheme comprises of 265 apartments and 19 four bed houses. The apartments comprise of four apartment blocks comprising 117 one-bed apartments, 129 two-bed apartments, 9 three-bed apartments and 10 studios along with a creche. The scheme will provide 165 car-spaces and 633 cycle spaces. The Irish Times, 16th December
OTHER
Cork City, Cork Two pedestrian bridges linking the site of the stalled Cork Event Centre to the opposite quays are being built at a cost of €8.5m, with no sign yet of the event centre going ahead. The bridges, which will cross the south channel of the River Lee and link with Crosses’ Green and French’s Quay/Proby’s Quay, are scheduled to be completed by mid-2025, while the event centre faces further delays as the project must be re-tendered. The decision by Cork City Council to re-tender is in the wake of legal concerns that the level of State aid, potentially €87m, could fall foul of EU procurement rules. The Irish Examiner, 12th December
Dublin Airport Gerry Gannon is set to reopen a 6,122-space car park near Dublin airport in March 2025 after the developer completed a deal with the construction magnate Maurice Regan to finance his debts outside the National Asset Management Agency. Gannon signed a deal with Apcoa to get the former Quickpark facility to operate under Apcoa’s Park2Travel brand. The car park has been closed since 2019 however the DAA made an offer to buy the car park for €70m in 2022, but the deal was blocked by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission due to the level of market share the DAA would have as a result. The Sunday Times, 15th December
Grand Canal, Dublin 2 Waterways Ireland and Iput Real Estate Dublin are joining as a public-private partnership to upgrade the public areas along Dublin’s Grand Canal between the Leeson and Baggot Street bridges. The works will be carried out on the northern towpath of the canal along Wilton Terrace. The area is in front of Iput’s landmark 600,000 sq. ft headquarter office development Wilton Park Estate, comprising 1, 2, 3 and 4 Wilton Park. The upgrade is intended to improve amenities along the canal bank including increased accessibility for pedestrians and mobility aide users; more public seating; two existing narrow paths will be replaced by a single, wider path and a canal-bank set-aside area. The Business Post, 16th December
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