1st December (Issue 275)
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.
OFFICE
Dublin 3 Lisney is guiding €8.95 million for a fully let office block at Dublin’s East Point Business Park. Block G is a three-storey building extending to 26,510 sq.ft. (€338 psf) with a parking provision of 49 surface car parking spaces. The building is 100% occupied and let on a floor-by-floor basis to two tenants: gaming company Activision Blizzard and polling firm Red C. The two tenancies are set to deliver a contracted rental income from May 2021 of €590,352 per annum. Block G’s 0.75-acre plot could potentially accommodate a refurbishment or development that would more than double the size of the existing property to 60,000 sq.ft, subject to planning permission. The Irish Times, 25th November
If you are interested in purchasing this asset and require financing, please contact Origin Capital as we can arrange senior debt facilities of up to €6m for the purchase of this Asset.
The Sunday Times understands that Oaktree Capital Management is believed to be one of a small number of parties negotiating with Colony to take over its interests in two Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) developments. RGRE and Colony hired Eastdil Secured in July to market a majority stake in the Fibonacci Square and Salesforce Tower developments. Since then, Oaktree replaced Colony as the main funder of RGRE’s bid to acquire an 80% stake in the development of the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin. Colony is also seeking a buyer for properties in its extensive Dublin investment portfolio, including its 75% stake in Burlington Plaza and a 72% stake in the Three Ireland headquarters on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. The properties were acquired through Nama’s sale of the Project Tolka loan portfolio. The Sunday Times, 29th November
RESIDENTIAL / LAND
Dalkey, South Dublin Irish Life’s Irish Residential Property Fund has acquired 94 luxury apartments that are being developed in Dalkey, south Dublin. The Irish Times understands Irish Life has agreed to pay c.€49 million (€521k per unit) to secure ownership of the Harbour Road scheme in advance of its scheduled completion in the second half of 2022. The development will comprise a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments distributed across two blocks overlooking Dalkey Island. The Irish Times, 26th November
Stillorgan, South Dublin Ires Reit is engaged in exclusive talks to acquire a portfolio of 25 high-end apartments in Stillorgan, south Dublin for c.€10.6 million (€424k per unit). Ires Reit’s expected purchase of the Atrium apartments will bring its overall holding at Beechwood Court to 126 units. The Atrium portfolio comprises 24 two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit, along with 25 car-parking spaces at basement level. Eight of the apartments have been held vacant while the remaining 17 units are being sold with the existing tenants in place. The Irish Times, 25th November
Malahide, North Dublin Lisney is offering a 3.68 acre site for sale with full planning permission for the development of 13 detached houses ranging in size from 3,616 sq.ft. to 4,510 sq.ft. arranged within a private cul-de-sac setting. The site is located within a short distance of the grounds of Malahide Castle on the eastern side of the Dublin Road, on the approach to Malahide village. The Irish Times, 25th November
Marino, Dublin 3 The Irish Times understands that Greystar has made an unsolicited offer of c.€180 million for the Griffith Wood portfolio where Cairn Homes is developing 385 homes on a site at Griffith Avenue in Marino, Dublin 3 (€468k per unit). The scheme, which is currently under construction, is set to comprise 377 apartments and eight houses. The apartments will be distributed across seven blocks ranging in height from four to eight storeys, and will be complemented by the provision of 367 car parking spaces, 682 bicycle parking spaces, as well as a creche and a gym for residents. The Irish Times, 25th November
Old Naas Rd, Dublin 12 An Bord Pleanála has given the green light for a mixed-use development which will include as many as 1,102 apartments on the Naas Road in Dublin. In total it will comprise nine buildings ranging in height from seven storeys to an 18-storey building that will accommodate offices on a site at the Royal Liver Assurance Retail Park on the Old Naas Road, Dublin 12. The mixed-use development will also include offices, a crèche, community centre, retail, gyms, cinema facility, café, bar, restaurant, medical centre and pharmacy uses with a total gross floor area of more than 1.39 million sq.ft. The development will also include a plaza area. The Irish Independent, 26th November
BidX1 Auction Three Dublin city multi-unit residential lots with guide prices exceeding €1 million are among the commercial development and residential properties which BidX1 will auction on December 9. One of the properties is Embassy Lodge in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, which has four apartments and a €1.1 million guide price. Located off Sandymount Avenue, it comprises two two-bedroom apartments and two one-bedroom apartments, the units range in size from 430 to 678 sq.ft. Only one of them, a one-bedroom apartment, is occupied and this 430 sq.ft. unit has a current annual rent reserved of €15,744 (€36.61 psf). The Business Post, 29th November
Social Housing Tuath, a housing charity with more than 5,500 units, has bought the Plaza building in Park West Business Park in Dublin 12 from Harcourt Developments. It has begun work on transforming the building, which has been vacant for several years, into 84 two-bedroom apartments, which will be provided to social housing tenants. Tuath is also converting a 1960s office block at Springville House in Blackrock, Cork, into a development of 35 homes within the fabric of the existing building. The Sunday Times, 29th November
HOTEL
Castleknock, Dublin 15 A decision by Fingal County Council to reject plans for an extensive development in Dublin that would have included the country’s tallest building has been appealed by the company behind the proposed scheme. The project would include a 459-bedroom hotel in a 28-storey block at junction 6 in Castleknock, as well a significant amount of office space in a total of four blocks. In rejecting the scheme last month, the council said that the proposed development would represent an “intensive overdevelopment” and would be “seriously out of character with the pattern of development in the area”. The Irish Independent, 27th November
RETAIL
Tallaght, Co Dublin Discount retailer Dealz is set to expand its Irish operation yet again with the planned opening in December of a new 10,764 sq.ft. store at Belgard Retail Park in Tallaght, Co Dublin. The Irish Times understands that Dealz have entered into a new 10-year lease at a rent of €200,000 per annum (€18.58 psf) on the unit occupied formerly by Mothercare. Dealz now have over 100 stores in Ireland with the latest addition to its network bringing its total in Dublin to 17. The Irish Times, 25th November
Tallaght Shopping Centre The company which owns the freehold interest in The Square Tallaght Shopping Centre in Dublin, The Square Management, has included a note regarding its going concern and the refinancing of its intermediate parent company OCM Luxembourg Square Retail and its “significant third party debts which mature in less than 12 months” in its results published for the year ended September 30th 2019. It said it is confident it would continue to receive support for at least a year and that it expected trading to approach normal levels by the first quarter 2021. The Sunday Independent, 29th November
OTHER
Data Centres A total of €1.25 billion has been spent on the construction of data centres in Ireland this year and €6.7 billion is expected to be spent on building them over the next five years, a new industry report has found. The Host in Ireland biannual report into the country‘s data hosting industry found that the effect of Covid-19 on it had been minimal, while construction and planning applications for new projects continued apace. There are now 66 operational data centres in Ireland, 11 under construction, 29 with planning approved and another five that have submitted planning applications. The vast majority of existing and planned data centres are for the Dublin region. The Business Post, 29th November
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