1st June (Issue 299)
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
KPMG Dublin KPMG has selected Hibernia Reit as the preferred bidder for the delivery of its new Dublin headquarters. Following the receipt of proposals from six of the country’s leading developers, the Big Four accounting and advisory firm had refined its deliberations in recent weeks to consider two other schemes being delivered by Shane Whelan’s Westridge Real Estate and the Kenny family’s Clancourt Group respectively. Hibernia Reit’s Harcourt Square scheme will comprise a 31,866sq m (343,000sq ft) development on the site of the current Dublin regional Garda headquarters on Harcourt Street. KPMG currently occupies two buildings in Dublin city centre, one at Stokes Place on Harcourt Street, and another in the IFSC, but is looking to accommodate its entire complement of 2,500 office-based workers under one roof following the expiration of its existing leases in 2026. The Irish Times, 28th May
North Wall Quay, Dublin 1 Those looking to secure a high-profile headquarters in Dublin city centre may be interested in the latest offering from developer Paddy McKillen Jnr’s Oakmount and partners Core Capital. Occupying a pivotal position beside the headquarters of the Central Bank and Dublin Landings in the city’s north docklands, The Heysham, as it will be known, will comprise 2,322sq m (25,000sq ft) of office space upon delivery in the third quarter of next year. The building is expected to command a rent of about €65 per sq. ft. The Heysham’s glazed structure will, upon completion, extend seven floors above No 73’s restored redbrick two-storey facade and be accessed via the building’s original Victorian arches. The office floors will range in size from 232sq m (2,500sq ft) to 279sq m (3,000sq ft), have floor-to-ceiling heights of 2.7m (8.8ft), and offer uninterrupted views of the river Liffey. The Heysham will also include private terraces on the second and eighth floors, high-speed passenger lifts, along with 60 bicycle spaces and seven self-contained showers with changing rooms and drying-room facilities at basement level. The Irish Times, 28th May
Park West, Dublin 12 Block 8 in the Park West business campus has come up for sale. Located at the heart of the Dublin 12 business and technology campus, Block 8 comprises 2,266sq m (24,387sq ft) of flexible office accommodation over three floors, together with 32 car parking spaces. The building is fully let to US-headquartered Exela Technologies since 2014, and has almost 3½ years remaining on the lease, at a passing rent of €349,850 a year. Agent Colliers is guiding €3.8 million for Block 8, which equates to a net initial yield of 8.37 per cent, and a capital value of €156 per sq. ft, after allowing for standard purchaser’s costs of 9.96 per cent. Block 8 is located within a seven-minute walk of Park West railway station, and benefits from a range of amenities including a coffee shop, restaurant, shops, creche and fitness centre. The Irish Times, 26th May
Treasury Building, Dublin 2 Google are due to submit a planning application for a major 10-storey extension and redevelopment of the former Treasury building on Grand Canal Street, Dublin. The proposed extension will add around 600 work spaces and take total capacity in the complex to 1,700 staff. Google’s Dublin offices already have capacity for around 8,000 staff – the vast majority of whom have been working remotely for the past 15 months. The latest expansion is a strong indication that the US firm’s longer term plans involve a significant number of office based staff in its Dublin base, at least a significant amount of the time. Google bought the existing Treasury Building office block for €120m from Johnny Ronan and Paddy McKillen. The Irish Independent, 1st June
INDUSTRIAL
Arrow Capital Partners Australian-headquartered real estate investor Arrow Capital Partners has deepened its involvement in Ireland’s industrial and logistics market with the acquisition of a further two properties in Dublin. Arrow’s latest Irish purchases consists of assets located at Fingal Bay Business Park off the M1 and Mygan Business Park in Finglas. In the first instance, the company has secured ownership of the Bridgestone Building, a 7,000sq m unit which is fully leased to Bridgestone Europe and acts as the company’s national tyre distribution centre for the island of Ireland. The site is located just off the M1 and 25km north of Dublin Airport. Arrow’s other purchase comprises a detached 3,000sq m warehouse leased to MVI Hazel, one of the largest distributors of kitchen fittings and furnishings in the country. It is located 1km from the M50 motorway, and 7km from both Dublin Airport and Dublin city centre. While the company declined to comment on the individual prices paid, the purchases form part of Arrow’s wider plan to invest more than €200 million here on warehouses in “last-mile” and other strategic locations by the middle of next year. The money comes from Arrow’s $3 billion (€2.7 billion) strategic industrial real estate (SIRE) investment platform. The Irish Times, 26th May
Rosemount Business Park, Dublin 15 The home of Branagan Meats is being offered to the market by Savills and McKay Asset Valuers and Auctioneers at a guide price of €3 million. Extending to 1,964sq m (21,140sq ft) on a site of 0.44 hectares (1.087 acres) with a concrete mezzanine of 438 sq m, the detached production facility is being sold with a full range of modern processing equipment for the cutting, cold storage and rewrapping of bovine, ovine, porcine and poultry products. There is temperature-controlled space for chilling and freezing throughout the production area and loading accesses is via four dock levellers and two ground-level roller shutter doors. The eaves height ranges from 7m-9m and the property also has the benefit of a retail outlet which is open to the public. A full inventory of all plant and machinery is available through McKay Asset Valuers & Auctioneers. A family business established in 1984, Branagan Meats has been trading from the Dublin 15 facility since 1999. The property is being offered for sale as the directors of the company have decided to retire from the business. The Irish Times, 26th May
Unit 101 Slaney Road, Glasnevin Harvey has been instructed to handle the sale of Unit 101 at Dublin Industrial Estate for €1.45m. The building extends to a total of 1,803 sqm, of which 1,579 is industrial/warehouse space and 224 sqm is office space and staff facilities. The 1.4 acre gated site would lend itself to potential extension of the building, subject to planning permission. Unit 101 is just 650 metres from Broombridge Luas Stop. The Business Post 30th May.
RESIDENTIAL / LAND
Camden Court, Cork An apartment block investment, comprising 49 units being sold in one lot along with a retail unit, has a €12 million price, nearly twice was it last sold for three years ago, before refurbishment and with a rent roll increase in train. The multi-family investment is located at Camden Court, on Cork city’s Carroll’s Quay, just 100 metres from the city’s Opera House. It is the first significant residential holding of this scale to come to the open market since the same units were offered in a slightly larger lot by the same selling agent Pat Falvey of Coldwell Banker. Acting at that time for NAMA, Mr Falvey had guided 55 units at €6.85m at that time, and they sold in two lots, to two investors, with this section of 49 apartments then making a reported €5.85 million. Falvey says that with currently high levels of price hikes in building materials, the €12m guide for the 49 offered in the block is still well below construction/replacement costs. Average values at the AMV are c €245,000 per unit. The Irish Examiner, 27th May
Citywest Site, Dublin The sale of a site with full planning permission for 98 new homes at Citywest is expected to attract strong interest. Extending across a total area of 6.68 hectare (16.5 acres), the property at Citywest Avenue is being offered to the market by agent JLL at a guide price of €12 million. There is scope for the prospective purchaser to increase the density of the development by seeking and securing permission for additional homes on the lands. While the existing planning approval provides for 59 houses and 39 duplexes and apartments on a 2.61 hectare (6.46 acre) portion of the site, a further 15 houses could be accommodated on 0.5 hectares (1.23 acre) adjacent to it subject to planning permission. The remaining 3.565 hectares (8.81 acres) of zoned land to the east of the approved residential scheme includes five acres designated for the development of a new school. These have not been required to date by the Department of Education however, and offer potential, according to the selling agent, for a further residential development subject to planning. The Irish Times, 26th May
Kill, Kildare Agent Coonan Property is guiding a price of €10 million for a prime, ready-to-go residential development site on the outskirts of Kill, Co Kildare. Extending to a total area of 6.35 hectares (15.69 acres), the lands come with full planning permission from An Bord Pleanála (Ref: ABP-307013-20) for the delivery of 164 homes comprising a mix of detached and semidetached houses, duplexes and apartments. The subject site is well located adjacent to the existing Earls Court residential estate and St Brigid’s national school on the eastern side of Kill village. It is situated just off the N7 and a 5km drive from Naas and 27km from Dublin, making it a popular location for first-time buyers seeking affordable homes within commuting distance of the capital. The Irish Times, 26th May
Albert Quay, Cork Plans for a 25-storey apartment development in the heart of Cork city have been scrapped as being non-viable financially, with the quayside site set to become a 16-storey office block instead. Noting much stronger than expected take-up of offices in Cork city, despite the setbacks of Covid-19, developers JCD Group has applied to Cork City Council for a totally revised proposal for a 170,000 sq ft office tower on the former Sextant bar and Carey Tools site on Albert Quay. It would be double the height of any previous offices schemes in Cork city centre, and just a floor under the height of the 2008-built Elysian apartment tower. Planning had been granted to JCD a year ago for a 25-storey ’build to rent’ apartment development. But, following a detailed appraisal process and review by Deloitte, it was found that even at existing high market rents “the cost of delivering the project is 15% higher than the anticipated value on completion, making the project completely unworkable,” said the company. Rents required to make the 201-apartment project financially viable would have had to rise an average of 21% from current levels, to as much as €2,800 per month for a two-bed unit, which JCD say “is not sustainable in the Cork market”. The Irish Examiner, 29th May
Dublin Sites 19/20 Lombard Street & 112/114 Townsend Street has come to the market with a guide of €5.5m The city centre prime development site is zoned Z5 under the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022 “to consolidate and facilitate the development of the central area and to identify, reinforce, strengthen and protect its civic design character and dignity”. The corner site extends to 0.165 acres with potential for a development of about ten storeys. The Business Post, 30th May
Malahide, Co. Dublin Plans to build 411 homes in Malahide, in the grounds of the former home of Ulick McEvaddy, an aviation tycoon, are being opposed by residents of a nearby development. There have been more than 54 submissions to An Bord Pleanala in relation to the proposed scheme, which includes 102 houses and 309 flats in blocks of up to six storeys. Auburn House, McEvaddy’s period home, would be preserved. Savaron, a management company representing the 50 houses in the Abington development, which sell for more than €2 million each, has submitted a 49-page objection. It includes a letter from Malahide Community School stating that it has no spare capacity. It concedes that its plans breach the current Fingal county plan but it argues that government policy is to increase building height and density in “accessible suburban locations”. The Sunday Times, 30th May
MIXED USE
Edward Square, Galway Developer Gerry Barrett’s Edward Capital has secured the green light from Galway City Council for the delivery of one of Ireland’s largest and most ambitious urban regeneration schemes. Located on an eight-acre site adjacent to Ceannt Station, Augustine Hill, as it will be known, will include a mix of 229 apartments, a 130-bed hotel, a six-screen cinema, restaurants, retail and a craft food market distributed across 11 new and fully-pedestrianised streets and four large public spaces. The residential element of the scheme will be housed in seven blocks with a 21-storey tower as its centrepiece. Augustine Hill is a joint development by CIÉ, which owns the land, Edward Capital, and Summix Capital. CIÉ held a competition in 2017 to find a developer for the site. The approved scheme represents a somewhat scaled-down version of the developer’s original proposal, which had included plans for a total of 378 apartments and a 180-bed hotel The Irish Times, 26th May
Mortgage Approvals Mortgage approvals remained strong in April as first time buyers flocked to the market, new data showed. Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said a total of 4,362 mortgages valued at just over €1 billion were approved during the month, the highest value for April since the organisation began collecting the data in 2011. First time buyers accounted for almost 55 per cent of the total volume of approvals and a similar percentage of value, with movers accounting for 23.2 per cent in volume and 27.3 per cent in value. Approvals overall were 0.9 per cent higher month-on-month, and 98.3 per cent higher than the same period in 2020, when the pandemic had taken hold. Value was 2.4 per cent higher month on month and 107.5 per cent higher year on year. The annualised figures show 46,131 mortgage approvals in the 12 months ending April 2021, valued at €11.2 billion, the highest value since the data series began in 2011. The growth was mainly driven by first time buyers approvals, which rose 5.9 per cent to almost €6.2 billion in the 12 months ended April 2021. The Irish Times, 1st June
Dublin Central Hammerson has detailed its proposals for the regeneration of an “important” site in Dublin’s north inner city to include a fully integrated Metrolink station for O’Connell Street. The “Dublin Central” masterplan proposals include two new public squares, new pedestrian routes and the restoration of historically important laneways. It also ensures the area around numbers 14 to 17 on Moore Street, a National Monument due to its role in the Easter Rising, is appropriately restored as part of the project. Three out of six planning applications for the proposed mixed-use development were submitted today to Dublin City Council, with more to follow in the coming months. There is an existing planning permission for over 1 million sq. ft of retail for a shopping centre which was granted in 2009. Hammerson are bringing forward a totally new vision for a mixed-use scheme which includes 94 units residential, 210 hotel beds, 44,000 sq. m of office space, 8,000 sq m of retail with food and beverage uses. RTE News, 1st June
If you have an article which you would like to have considered for inclusion in our next weekly report, please contact us at info@origincapital.ie