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.
Purpose Built Student Accommodation
Copley Street, Cork City Greystar has made its fourth investment in Ireland’s PBSA sector, with the acquisition of Copley Court in Cork from Elkstone. While the price paid for the 265-bed complex has not been disclosed, The Irish Times understands that Greystar paid approx. €33m for the property. The figure equates to an average of €124,528 per bed space. News of the deal comes just two months after Greystar completed its purchase for €37m of a 216-bed student accommodation scheme on Church Street in Dublin from Valeo Groupe. Greystar’s student-accommodation portfolio comprises a total of 2,171 beds following its latest acquisition, making it one of the largest owner-operators of student accommodation in Ireland. Since being relaunched in 2019, Copley Court has operated at or near full occupancy. It will now operate under Canvas Student, Greystar’s pan-European student accommodation brand. The Irish Times, 25th August
Retail
Henry Street, Dublin 1 16 Henry Street is available to lease through Colliers with indicative terms available on application. The accommodation, which recently underwent a refurbishment, extends to three floor areas. A ground floor retail area (1,118 sq. ft), a first floor retail area (962 sq. ft) and a basement ancillary (1,190 sq. ft). The property is available on a new lease. 16 Henry Street is immediately adjacent to Arnotts Department Store and directly opposite the newly opened Sports Direct flagship store. The expanded Zara store, due to open shortly, is also located opposite the property. Other leading retailers in the immediate vicinity include Dunnes Stores, Mango, Levi’s, Boots and Normal’s first Irish store. Colliers Press Release, 27th August
Office
Oranmore Business Park, Co. Galway Unit 6, Ard Oran, comes to the market fully let to US-headquartered Cisco at a guide price of €8.5m through TWM. Should a sale proceed at that level, the new owner would be in line for a NIY of 9.52%, rising to 10.32% following a fixed rental uplift from November 2027. Built in 2007, the subject property comprises a modern office building of four storeys over a basement level. The property, which extends to 52,393 sq. ft excluding the basement, is occupied in its entirety by Cisco Systems Internetworking Ireland Ltd under the terms of a 25-year FRI lease effective from November 2007. Following a recent lease restructuring, the tenant’s remaining tenant-break option was removed, resulting in an unexpired lease term of approx. 6.2 years. The investment is currently generating €890,000 in annual rental income, with a fixed rental increase to €965,000 a year from November 2027. The Irish Times, 26th August
Swords Business Park, Co. Dublin The former headquarters of facilities services provider Bidvest Noonan in Swords Business Park has been brought to the market through Lisney with a €2.75m asking price. The detached office building extends to approx. 19,231 sq. ft and occupies a prominent position in Swords Business Park. A particular feature of the property is its parking provision, with approx. 64 spaces available through a combination of surface and undercroft parking. Other occupiers in Swords Business Park include An Post, Siemens Healthcare, Renishaw and Arvato. Swords Business Park is approx. 1km east of Swords Main Street and The Pavilions Shopping Centre, between the M1 motorway and the R132 Swords Bypass. The Business Post, 27th August
Fenian Street, Dublin 2 Monzo is set to move into X’s offices on Fenian Street as part of a sublease agreed with Elon Musk’s social media firm. The UK neobank will move from its current offices at WeWork’s campus on Dame Street as part of a lease signed in recent weeks. It is set to take approx. 16,000 sq. ft of office space, enough for 150 desks at One Cumberland Place which has been occupied by X. Monzo has made Ireland the site of its EU headquarters as part of its push into Europe, having received a banking licence from the Central Bank of Ireland last December. Monzo invested €71m of capital into its Irish-headquartered European operation as part of its successful move to secure a banking licence. The Business Post, 29th August
Tara Street, Dublin 2 The Irish Times is exploring plans to move its headquarters from Tara Street after 20 years at the premises. The newspaper has hired Cushman & Wakefield to draw up a list of office spaces in Dublin city centre with floorspace of approx. 30,000 sq. ft. The paper has a 25-year lease on its current HQ, a building that is owned by Dublin City Council (“DCC”), but this is set to expire in 2030. The paper has not ruled out seeking a new lease on its current office from DCC. The Irish Times moved to Tara Street in 2006, leaving its previous head office on D’Olier Street, which it had occupied for 111 years. The most recent available accounts show the Irish Times in 2024 reported turnover of €115.6m, ending the year with a profit of €4m. It employed 837 staff in the period, which represented a decline from 874 employees a year earlier. That year, the group completed the acquisition of RIP.ie, the digital death notice platform, which it said was part of a strategy to expand its range of digital products and services. The Business Post, 29th August
Hospitality
Great Victoria Street, Belfast Having paid approx. €23m to secure ownership of Belfast’s Fitzwilliam Hotel in 2015, businessman Michael Holland has instructed CBRE to find a buyer for the five-star property. The hotel, which began trading in 2009, is being offered to the market on a freehold basis at a guide price of €37.4m. A part of the Fitzwilliam Hospitality Group which also includes The Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin and well-known restaurants and bars such as Glovers Alley, Floritz, Cellar 22 and the Bailey, Belfast’s Fitzwilliam Hotel comprises 146 bedrooms and suites. The hotel is owner-operated and unencumbered, providing incoming purchasers with the full flexibility to either retain the operation under the Fitzwilliam name, subject to licence, or to rebrand the hotel. The current owners secured planning permission in June for the addition of 52 large bedrooms and suites, a conference centre, gym and a luxury spa with swimming pool and eight treatment rooms. The Irish Times, 26th August
Nationwide A new report highlights the rapid decline of the Irish pub industry, with a quarter of all pubs closing their doors since 2005 and the report’s author predicting up to 1,000 further premises could follow suit. The report compiled by DCU Economist Anthony Foley, shows that 2,205 premises, or one in four, have closed their doors since 2005. The decrease saw pub numbers fall from 8,617 to 6,412, an average of 110 per year. The number of pubs which closed their doors last year was 86, up from 65 in 2024 but down from 117 in 2023. The highest proportion of closures was in Limerick, with 37.2% calling time, followed by Offaly (-34.1%) Cork (-32.7%), Roscommon (-32.3%), Tipperary (-32.0%), Laois (-30.6%), Longford (-30.1%) and Westmeath (-30.0%). The lowest decrease was in Dublin with a drop of 1.1%, followed by Wicklow with a decrease of 9.5%. The report was commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland which has called for the Government to use the upcoming Budget to introduce a 10% cut in excise, which currently stands as the second highest in the European Union. The Irish Examiner, 1st September
Residential / Development
Clongriffin, Dublin 13 Ires Reit is in advanced talks to buy Two Three North, a 282-apartment development in north Dublin. Tristan Capital Partners and Twinlite put the scheme on the market in February with an asking price of €117.5m. The acquisition will mean Ires increases its portfolio size by approx. 8%. The company owned 3,611 residential units at the end of June in a portfolio worth approx. €1.25bn. Ires’s interim half-year results, reported this month, were its strongest in more than five years. Its gross rental income was €43.1m for the six months to the end of June, and it posted a pre-tax profit of €48m, up from €16m in the previous period. Two Three North was completed by Tristan Capital Partners and Twinlite in 2022 as a build-to-rent scheme. Onsite facilities include co-working areas, a gym, cinema and residents’ lounges. Rent roll in 2026 is expected to be €7.4m. Forty-six of the 282 apartments are leased to DCC, which pays an annual rent of €927,000. The Sunday Times, 30th August
Nationwide Castlethorn is planning to build more than 7,000 homes in the greater Dublin area with the support of Avenue Capital. The New York based Avenue agreed to invest €125m to help with the delivery of the homes. It will make an initial €100m capital commitment, taking a minority stake in a new vehicle set up by both companies. Last year, Castlethorn built 1,150 homes. It now plans to double its annual output to 2,300 units by 2028. The Avenue investment is set to support land acquisitions, as Castlethorn looks to buy land with room to build approx. 3,000 homes. The other 4,000 homes will come from sites that are already within the homebuilder’s control. Among them is likely to be a site off Old Connaught Avenue in Bray, Co. Wicklow. Last month, Castlethorn applied for planning permission to build the first phase of an 800-home scheme there. The Sunday Times, 30th August
Kilmeague, Co. Kildare Knight Frank is guiding €2.75m for lands with potential for the development of up to 150 new homes. Located next to an established residential estate on the outskirts of the village of Kilmeague, the lands extend to a total area of 10.8-acres and are greenfield at present. The entire holding is zoned for residential development under the terms of the Kildare County Development Plan 2023–2029 (Variation No 3). The density range of 25 to 35 units provided for in the plan would allow for a residential development of 110 to 150 units, subject to planning permission. Kilmeague is within convenient reach of the employment, retail and services of Naas (20km), Newbridge (12km) and Kildare town (12km). The Irish Times, 26th August
Nationwide The average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment has risen to €2,204 a month. In Dublin, rental availability fell by 18% over the year to fewer than 1,150 homes. Rents increased by 1.4% between March and June, a marked slowdown from the record 4.4% quarterly increase recorded in the first three months of the year. Market rents in Galway city were 13% higher in the second quarter than a year earlier, while rents rose by 12% in Cork, 11% in Limerick and 5.5% in Waterford, which was broadly in line with Dublin where rents were up 6.5% year-on-year in June. Outside the main urban centres, rents increased by between 9% and 10% annually across Leinster, Munster and Connacht-Ulster. The average monthly rent for a double room in a shared house stood at €812 during the second quarter. There were 2,480 rooms available to rent nationwide on August 1, down 20% year-on-year and the lowest August figure since 2022. The Irish Independent, 24th August
Other
Dublin Airport, Co. Dublin An Coimisíun Pleanála (“ACP”) has grounded plans by DA Terminal 3 Ltd for a new cargo hub development on their lands on the Airport’s western campus. This follows ACP refusing planning permission for the firm’s plan for four aviation-related cargo-handling units to operate on a 24-hour seven-day-a-week basis and ancillary office space on a site at Huntstown, Swords. The scheme was to employ 350 people, comprising 200 warehouse jobs and 150 office jobs. A planning report lodged by CWPA Planning & Architecture for the applicants stated that the 30-acre application site was the first phase of a 123.5-acre site owned by DA Terminal 3 Ltd to be developed by the company. Longer-term development proposals for the overall site include the development of Terminal 3 for Dublin Airport. ACP refused planning permission after Dublin Airport operator, DAA, made a submission to the commission arguing that there are clear concerns the proposed development does not provide air transport-related infrastructure. The DAA submission opposed the proposal and stated that the units present as standard warehouses that do not have the specific characteristics of air cargo handling warehouses and there is an absence of connection to or integration with the airport. The Irish Independent, 27th August