19th April (Issue 343)

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Waystone, a leading institutional provider of services to the asset management industry, is set to expand its Irish operations further with a planned move to new headquarter offices in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. The company has signed a 20-year lease to take 52,000 sq. ft. and 12 car spaces at 35 Shelbourne Road. Market sources believe that Waystone has agreed to pay in excess of €60 per sq. ft., following an initial rent-free period, to occupy the first to fourth floors at the building. The fifth and sixth floors meanwhile are set to serve as the new Dublin headquarters of online takeaway delivery giant, Just Eat, following the completion of their fit-out at the end of April. 35 Shelbourne Road comprises 87,500 sq. ft. of Grade A office accommodation in total and a 4,520 sq. ft. ground-floor retail unit suited to several uses. The Irish Times, 13^th April

Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 The decision by leading law firm ByrneWallace to renew the lease on its Dublin headquarters has seen an immediate 16% jump in the price being sought for the property. Having offered the building, 87-88 Harcourt Street, to the market in mid-February for €45m, Savills has now increased its guide price to €52m.The new price reflects the agreement between ByrneWallace and the landlord, receivers EY-Parthenon, on a lease extension to April 2032 with no break option and an increase in the rent to €2.45m pa. The property had been marketed for sale originally with a tenant break option in November 2023 and at a passing rent equating to just €44.39 per sq. ft. – or €2.37m a year. The new guide price of €52m offers a NIY of 4.28%. Numbers 87-88 Harcourt Street is a modern office block extending to 53,312 sq. ft. in a prime city-centre location. The Irish Times, 13^th April

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 The third floor of Embassy House in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, has been placed on the market to let by way of sublease. Extending to 7,418 sq. ft. the fully fitted office is being made available immediately on flexible terms through agent Colliers. Embassy House occupies a prime location within Ballsbridge immediately adjacent to both the Herbert Park Hotel and Herbert Park itself. There are seven car-parking spaces available to let along with the office space at Embassy House. The Irish Times, 13^th April

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Dublin’s biggest office owner, Iput, is in advanced talks to sell the Shelbourne Buildings complex for c. €90m. US group Hines is in pole position to land the collection of office buildings in Ballsbridge, according to several market sources. Shelbourne Buildings comprise three modern office buildings that offer flexible floorplates. The development’s occupiers include Surveymonkey, Mediolanum Bank, and Higher Education Authority. React News, 12^th April

Ballycoolin Business Park, Dublin 15 JLL has launched the former Xerox HQ building in Ballycoolin Business Park to the market with a €7m guide price. The stand-alone building offers c. 78,576 sq. ft. of office space over two floors on a nine-acre site and includes a reception area and an optimal mix of cellular and open-plan offices along with 417 surface level car parking spaces. The Business Post, 17^th April

Eyre Square, Galway Eyre Square Shopping Centre in Galway city centre has been sold for €9.575m. According to market sources, the scheme has been acquired by a fund managed by Davy Real Estate. The price paid equates to a NIY of 9.78%. It also represents a discount of 33% on the €12.75m Colliers had been guiding when it brought the shopping centre to the market on behalf of US investment giant Marathon Asset Management last August. While Eyre Square Shopping Centre comprises over 70 retail units and kiosks, the sale itself was confined to eight retail units and control of the centre together with the freehold common area units. The eight retail units boast a strong tenant lineup, including JD Sports, Great Outdoors, Specsavers, Diesel, Starbucks and Vero Moda. The units are currently producing rental income of €869.2k pa with a WAULT of 6.24 years to break. The centre also has direct access to 450 car parking spaces in Eyre Square car park. The Irish Times, 13^th April

Kilbarry Business & Technology Park, Cork Cushman & Wakefield is guiding a price of €6m for a substantial industrial facility at Kilbarry Business & Technology Park in Cork which comprises a manufacturing facility of 104,700 sq. ft. The building also incorporates both a two-storey office block and a 16,792 sq. ft. warehouse. For sale with vacant possession, the property had up until recently been occupied in its entirety by Lynoslife (formerly Mayo-based Cosmetic Creations). The Irish Times, 13^th April

Saggart, South Dublin Maxol, the service station operator, is selling a site in the heart of Saggart Village in south Dublin which has planning permission for 28 dwellings and two commercial units. Selling agent Cushman & Wakefield is guiding €1.4m for the property which is a 14% discount to the €1.75m which it quoted for the site when it previously came to the market in 2019. It will be auctioned online on the Offr platform on Thursday, 12 May 2022 at 12pm. Known locally as the Saggart Arms pub site and petrol station, it is situated in the village at the junction of Main Street and Boherby Road. The residential element of the planning permission comprises a one–bedroom apartment, 10 two-bedroom duplex units, six two-bedroom apartments, 10 three-bedroom duplex units and a three-bed house. Its commercial specifications comprise a 2,830 sq. ft. retail unit and 1,076 sq. ft. office unit. The Irish Independent, 14^th April

Point Square, Dublin Docklands Nama-appointed receivers have sold the mixed-use Point Square in Dublin’s docklands for €85m. That is €10m more than the guide price quoted by agents Savills on behalf of receivers at Grant Thornton. In recent months there were reports that bidders for Point Square included a consortium of investors led by Barry McGrath, a former managing partner at law firm Maples and Calder, who was believed to have agreed an €83m deal. Others reported to be in the hunt were US real-estate giant Kennedy Wilson, and Simon Kelly’s RQTwo. At the time of its launch on the market last July, it had a rent roll of €4.9m and tenants included Starbucks, Eddie Rocket’s, Ruby’s Pizza, Salad Box and Fresh. In addition, CrossFit 353 operates a gym. The scheme comprises c. 103,000 sq. ft. of office space, a 242,000 sq. ft. shopping centre which incorporates a 95,000 sq. ft. anchor store, over 61,000 sq. ft. of space with planning permission for retail and/or leisure use, 756 car-parking spaces and 24,000 sq. ft. of permitted café/restaurant space. The Irish Independent, 14^th April

PBSA Pipeline, Cork Cork city’s newest Jenga-like student accommodation is just one of a series of developments set to deliver more than 1,000 extra bed spaces in the city in time for the next academic year. The blocks have been built by University College Cork/Sisk and will add 255 beds to UCC’s existing student bed complement of c. 1,300. Also nearing completion is the larger, 554-bed €53m Bandon Road O’Mahony Pike-designed student accommodation complex, Ashlin house. The development will be managed by Nido, a UK-based student accommodation provider already in situ at 145-bed Curraheen Point, formerly Gillan House on Farranlea Road, and who will also take charge of €12m Bróga House, a 280-bed student accommodation complex built by John Paul Construction at the site of the former Square Deal Furniture store on Washington Street. Slightly further down the development pipeline is Bmor Developments who are planning to deliver a 280-bed student accommodation facility on North Main Street for the 2023/2024 academic year. Meanwhile Bellmount Developments, who have planning permission for a c. €30m 243-bed student accommodation complex at the former Kellehers Auto Centre in Victoria Cross, hope to break ground on the 0.54-acre site by the end of the year. Meanwhile Farman’s, the construction company, will be delivering a 623-bed student complex at the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Carrigrohane ‘Straight Road’. The 10-storey development will have a gross floor area of c. 207,388 sq. ft. The Irish Examiner, 14^th April

Ballyboden, Co Dublin Ballyboden Tidy Towns Group has taken a High Court challenge against An Bord Pleanála’s decision to grant planning permission for 131 homes in South Dublin. The action relates to the planning authorities’ decision to grant developer MacCabe Durney Barnes Limited permission to building the homes and associated works at Stocking Lane, Ballyboden in Co Dublin. The Irish Times, 12^th April 

Dundrum, Dublin 16 The Land Development Agency (LDA) is proposing to sell 196 residential units for social housing for an estimated €72m to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. The 196 units form part of the LDA’s €378.6m 977-unit “affordable” residential-unit scheme for lands at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. The planning documents lodged include a letter from Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council which confirms the indicative cost of €72m for the 196 units at an average cost of €367.7k. The council letter states that the indicative average cost for the three-bedroom unit is €564.9k and the indicative average cost for the three-bedroom houses would be €440.2k. The letter specifies that the cost for the two-bedroom units is €438.2k or €387.6k depending on size. The indicative cost for the studio units is €232.6k and €292.5k for one-bedroom units. The proposed deal comprises 21 studio apartments; 84 one-bedroom units, 59 two-bedroom apartments, and 32 three-bedroom homes.The overall scheme comprises nine blocks ranging from two to seven storeys in height. A decision is due on the SHD application in July. The Irish Times, 12^th April

Dublin City Centre One of Dublin’s best development sites is expected to be launched for sale in the coming weeks by Fortress Investment Group and partner Ronan Group Real Estate. Waterfront South Central, a major residential and commercial scheme developer Johnny Ronan is working up for a 4.6-acre site next to the 3Arena, is expected to attract interest in the c. €200m-€250m mark when launched for sale. Developer Ronan secured the last remaining waterfront site in Dublin’s north Docklands for a figure of c. €180m back in 2018, with backing from Colony Capital. The broad pricing bracket stems from an unresolved planning position regarding the residential component of the north Docklands plot, as well as an immediate difficulty factoring build costs into development appraisals as inflation rages. In May last year, An Bord Pleanála refused planning for RGRE’s Waterfront Towers. The proposal included two towers of 45 and 41 storeys along with a third 14-storey block, involving a total of more than 1,000 apartments. Planning permission was given for the commercial part of the development. The scheme will see the development of four office blocks, ranging in height from five to nine storeys, on a site between North Wall Quay and Mayor Street Upper. When complete, they will provide 718,146 sq. ft. of office space in the city centre. React News, 14^th April

SHD, Cork Developers seeking to build 420 apartments on parts of the former Bessborough Estate in Cork are to sell off 42 apartments to Cork City Council for social housing with an estimated €10.5m price tag. Estuary View Enterprises (EVE) has lodged combined plans worth €105m with An Bord Pleanála to construct 420 apartments plus a café and creche on the site in Blackrock in Cork City. The two separate applications have been made under the SHD fast-track system. EVE is the largest landowner in the Bessborough Estate, with its block totalling c. 40 acres. As part of EVE’s The Meadow SHD, the applicant is seeking permission for 280 buy-to-sell apartments in four blocks ranging from six to 10 storeys in height, while the companion The Farm SHD provides for 140 buy-to-sell apartments in three blocks up to five storeys in height. Documentation lodged with the scheme shows that the developers have put an estimated cost range of €172.4k to €202.2k on the one-bedroom apartments, an estimated cost range of €287.2k to €298.2k on the two-bedroom apartments and €400.1k on the three-bedroom apartments. The developer’s proposal to sell 42 apartments comprised of 18 one-bedroom units, 23 two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit to the council. A decision is expected on the twin planning applications in late July. The Irish Times, 14^th April

Dundrum, Dublin 16 An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for a new €316m BTR apartment scheme near Dundrum in Dublin despite Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council recommending a refusal on five separate grounds. The 531-unit scheme at Marmalade Lane, Wyckham Avenue, Dublin 16, is comprised of 28 studios, 297 one-bedroom units, 197 two-bedroom units and nine three-bedroom units. The development by 1 Wyckham Land includes a 10-storey apartment block. More than 80 parties objected to the fast-track plans. The Irish Times, 14^th April

Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Drumcondra residents have hit out at what has been labelled a “brazenly outrageous” eight-storey, 74-unit BTR scheme planned for the area. Last month, Ginxo Trading Ltd lodged plans for the contentious scheme for Turnpike Lane at the rear of 59-69 Drumcondra Road Lower in Dublin 9. The Irish Times, 13^th April

SHD Deadline, Ireland Property developers lodged plans for c. 15k homes under the fast-track planning process in the first two weeks of April as they rushed to meet the final deadline for the scheme. An Bord Pleanála received a record 36 planning applications in two weeks under the SHD process, which comes to an end on Tuesday. While the scheme had closed for new applications in February, those developers who had already started discussions with An Bord Pleanála for their respective developments were given an extension to April 19. Gannon Homes applied for permission to build more than 1,000 homes in Swords in North Co Dublin — a mixture of houses, apartments and duplexes — in two separate applications. Cairn wants to build 621 homes at Holybanks, while Louth-based J Murphy Developments is looking for permission to build 650 apartments in four to ten-storey buildings on the Dublin Road in Swords. Dwyer Nolan, owner of the former De La Salle national school site in Ballyfermot, has also submitted plans as it seeks to build 927 apartments, including a 13-storey building. Other applications have also been submitted in recent weeks for large-scale developments in Galway, Wicklow, Tipperary, Cork and Limerick. The Sunday Times, 17^th April

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