21st September (Issue 315)
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
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Burlington Real Estate is closing in on the purchase of Carrisbrook House in Ballsbridge for c€29 million. The company is understood to have secured the property in the face of competing offers from several parties. US real estate firm Hines, Johnny Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate, Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group, David Kennan’s KC Capital, and international property developer Osborne + Co are among those said to have vied for the landmark building. Located at the junction of Pembroke Road and Northumberland Road and across the road from the site of the former Jurys Hotel, Carrisbrook House served as the home of the Israeli embassy in Ireland up until its relocation to nearby Shelbourne Road in 2019. While Carrisbrook’s current owners, Colony Capital, acquired the property in partnership with UK developer U+I for €23.5 million in 2018, or just over half the €46 million developers Bernard McNamara, Jeremiah O’Reilly and the late David Courtney had paid for it in 2007, they struggled to find occupiers for the building. Up until its move to 23 Shelbourne Road, the Israeli embassy was the sole tenant at Carrisbrook House since AIB Fund Managers vacated their offices there in 2008. The Irish Times, 15th September
Park West Business Park, Dublin 12 Colliers is guiding a price of €3 million for a standalone office building located in Park West Business Park. Block 7, Park West Business Park offers c2,255sq m (24,282 sq ft) of flexible office accommodation over three floors, together with 31 car-parking spaces. The subject property is producing annual rental income of €270,500 per annum with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 2.6 years. This equates to a net initial yield of 8.2%, reversionary yield of 11.51% and capital value of €124 per sq ft, after allowing for standard purchaser’s costs of 9.96%. The ground floor is let to Trilogy Technologies on a 10-year lease from August 2018 at an annual rent of €130,500, with a break option in August 2023 subject to six months’ prior written notice. The first floor is let to Paragon 28 Medical Devices, a US medical device company, based on a five-year lease from December 2019 at an annual rent of €140,000. The second floor, which is currently vacant, has scope to achieve in the region of €120,000 a year once fully let. The Irish Times, 15th September
Sandyford, Dublin 18 Two suburban modern office blocks in Sandyford Business District have been brought to the market and agent Quinn Agnew is seeking offers in excess of €5.65m for the pair. Both Elm House and Oak House are detached units extending to 11,200 sq ft and 10,700 sq ft respectively and are laid out over three storeys. Currently four tenants occupy a combined 14,450 sq ft across both blocks. There are also three suites vacant, ranging from 1,975 sq ft to 3,720 sq ft in size, with a total floor area of 7,730 sq ft. One of these suites is in Oak House, the other two are in Elm House. Current annual income totals almost €306,000 which would equate to a 4.9% net initial yield. Manus Agnew says that recent agreed lettings in the blocks range from €22-24.50 per sq ft, indicating reversionary potential to increase rental income to €550,000 following reletting and completion of upcoming rent reviews. This would boost the yield to 7.5%. The weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) is 4.65 years. Oak House benefits from 30 parking spaces and Elm from 46, with dual access points allowing maximum flexibility. The Irish Independent, 16th September
Tallaght, Dublin 24 Two office blocks have been launched for sale in Tallght, guiding at a price of €5 million through agent BNP Paribas Real Estate. Blocks A and B at the Cookstown Court office scheme are currently producing a highly reversionary rental income of €396,216 (excluding VAT) across five tenancies with an average passing rent of €115 per sq m (€10.70 per sq ft inclusive of parking). The net initial yield of 7.21% can easily be increased, according to the selling agent, through pro-active asset management involving lettings of the vacant office suite, lease re-gears and rent reviews. With a weighted average unexpired lease term of approximately 4.3 years, an alternative strategy would be to see out the existing tenancies. Blocks A and B comprise two four-storey over double-basement semi-detached office buildings extending to a gross internal area of 3,585sq m (38,594 sq ft) with 124 on-site car parking spaces. The Irish Times, 15th September
RETAIL
City Square Shopping Centre, Waterford Marathon Asset Management has put Waterford’s landmark City Square Shopping Centre on the market for €24.5 million. The move follows the US investment giant’s recent agreement of a deal to sell the Parks Collection to Marlet Group for about €78 million. City Square Shopping Centre enjoys a prime retail pitch in Waterford city. While the scheme is anchored by Dunnes Stores, this unit is not included in the sale. Key tenants include River Island, JD Sports, Peter Mark, GameStop and Holland & Barrett. The sale also includes the former Debenhams department store, which comprises 7,432sq m (80,000sq ft) of prime retail space over two floors. The centre is currently generating total rental income of €1.58 million a year, with expected total market rent of more than €2.6 million a year on the successful letting of the vacant units. The centre’s €24.5 million guide price equates to a capital value of €175 per sq ft, a net initial yield (NIY) of 5.71% and a reversionary yield of 10% on the re-letting of the vacant units. The scheme has a current average weekly footfall of approximately 110,000, and is a prime retail destination in the city, with 34 retail units and kiosks. The Irish Times, 15th September
Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2 Agent Savills is guiding a price of €1.8 million for a retail investment comprising four ground-floor units in Dublin south docklands. Situated at Hanover Quay at Grand Canal Dock, the “Waterfront” investment comes for sale fully let and is generating a combined rental income of €93,000 per annum with a fixed rental uplift to €109,500 from April 2022. Unit 1 is leased to Pause Cafe subject to a passing rent of €15,000 per annum. The lease for Unit 2 was renewed in April of this year by Realm Concepts/ Bulthaup for a new term of 15 years and is subject to a passing rent of €28,000 with fixed uplifts to a headline rent in year five of €30,000. Similarly, the lease covering both Units 3 and 4 was renewed by long-term occupier Minima Home for a new term of 15 years from April of this year, subject to a passing rent of €50,000 with fixed uplift to €65,000 effective from April 2022. The Irish Times, 15th September
Clonsilla, Dublin 15 Savills has relaunched Applegreen Clonsilla in Dublin 15 to the market with a guide price of €3.4 million. The property offers investors the opportunity to acquire a long term income-producing asset with a weighted average unexpired lease term (Wault) of almost 14 years and the benefit of CPI-linked upward-only rent reviews. The guide price at €3.4 million reflects an attractive net initial yield of 7.43% (after standard purchasers’ costs). The property comprises a modern petrol filling station with four double-sided pumps, a shop, a car wash and service area on a site of c0.5 of an acre. The shop unit extends to a gross internal area of 135 square metres, and the property also benefits from a forecourt and canopy. The retail building provides a general shop area, subway delicatessen counter and staff areas to the rear, as well as providing customer car parking and services area. The filling station is occupied by Petrogas Group Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Applegreen plc. It produces a total passing rent of €277,392 annually, which equates to a rent per pump of €34,673. The Business Post, 19th September
MIXED USE
East Douglas Village, Cork An entire street, in Cork’s affluent Douglas suburb, has just been sold, for about €11 million. East Douglas Village is a gathering of five buildings combing mixed uses typical of a city street and close to 100% occupied, with rent roll of €760,000 per annum. It had come to market in April of this year with agents Lisney, seeking €9.5 million and reportedly got a surge of investor interest. It’s understood the purchaser is a private investor, not a fund. East Douglas Village made more than 10% over the €9.5m guide, which investment market sources say was closer to €11m after competitive bids. At a sale sum closer to €11m, it shows a return of 6.2%. The distinctive modern development, in brick and cut limestone, in Douglas village with a large and well-heeled residential catchment on its doorstep was delivered in 2000 on the site of a former funfair Pipers. The occupier mix includes 16 apartments, a bar/restaurant with 10-bedroomed hotel, apartments, three restaurants, offices and retail space, all close to 100% occupancy. The Irish Examiner, 16th September
HOSPITALITY
Winthrop Street, Cork Listed with a €950,000 AMV with Savills estate agent Chris O’Callaghan is the four-storey building, by the GPO, opposite the Long Valley Bar and next to Winthrop Arcade. It is on one of Cork’s busiest footfall streets, off Oliver Plunkett Street. No. 14 Winthrop Street is being offered with approved food use by the City Council, and is being sold with its tenant, O’Flynn Food Company, in place. Family-owned O’Flynn Food Company, with a business going back to 1921, are on a 20-year upward-only lease from Feb 2010 at a passing rent of €70,000 pa and do both sit-down and takeaway food at No 14. The investment sale equates to a NIY/return of 6.74%. The Irish Examiner, 16th September
RESIDENTIAL
Foxrock, Dublin 18 Guiding at a price of €4.75 million, the sale by Glenveagh Properties of a 0.6 hectare (1.6 acre) residential development site near Foxrock is being offered by Knight Frank with full planning permission (D15A/0839), extended until July 5th, 2025, for the construction of 28 apartments. The entire site is zoned “Objective A Residential” under the terms of the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Development Plan 2016 – 2022, and Draft 2022 – 2028 Plan, which seeks to “protect and or improve residential amenity”. The site falls outside both the Foxrock Architectural Conservation Area and the Section 49 Development Contribution Scheme – Extension of LUAS Line B1 – Sandyford to Cherrywood. While there is an opportunity to deliver apartment units suited to the upper end of both the owner-occupier and private rented sector markets in the near term, the site offers scope for an alternative scheme. Dermot Bannon Architects have prepared a detailed feasibility study for a revised development of 24 units (10 houses, seven duplex units and seven apartments) incorporating surface car parking. In terms of its location, The Birches is situated just off Torquay Road and within close proximity to Foxrock village itself. The Irish Times, 15th September
Glanmire, Co Cork A residential development site, next to a €15m nursing-home development and the O’Flynn Group’s Ballinglanna scheme of 600 homes, is for sale as a ready-to-go chance to build 26 homes. The site is being sold by private vendors and is located on the edge of Cork’s Glanmire next to a nursing-home being operated by Aperee. It is a 2.3-acre land parcel, with full planning permission (FPP) for 26 homes, primarily townhouses, with some semi-ds, spanning two- to four-beds, of 1,000 sq ft to 1,367 sq ft. Savills price the residential site at €1.25m, equating to €48,000 per stand. It’s zoned as existing built-up area, and the planning grant for the 26 units was in 2019. Prices here, for the 26 townhouses and some semis, will be at the affordable end of the scale, and the sale may catch the eye of AHBs and other bodies, as well as builders. The Irish Examiner, 16th September
Loughrea, Co Galway REA McGreal Burke has just brought a residential development site at Danesfort Court to the market in the town of Loughrea in Co Galway. The lands, understood to extend to c1.62 hectares (4 acres) are located close to the Loughrea outer relief road, which links the town to the M6 motorway and is on the eastern side of the town, within walking distance of the town centre, schools, the IDA Business Park and local amenities. Loughrea is a substantial urban centre and an important commuter town for Galway city via the M6 to Athlone. The Shannon/Limerick regions are also within commuting distance via the M18 motorway. Planning has been granted on this site for 42 homes and includes 32 four-bedroom semi-detached homes, six three-bedroom semi-detached units and four three-bedroom terrace homes. The four-bedroom semi-detached homes extend to about 135 square metres; the three-bedroom semi-detached and terraced homes both offer 118 square metres of living space. The Business Post, 19th September
Donabate, North Co Dublin Joint agents Knight Frank and Dillon Marshall have just launched a development opportunity to the market at Turvey Avenue in Donabate, with a guide price in excess of €8.5 million exclusive. In August 2020, An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for an SHD development on the subject site, which was subsequently amended to provide for 155 apartment units (including 25 one-beds, 112 two-beds and 18 three-beds) in three apartment blocks, each unit having its own terrace/balcony. It is envisaged to be operated as a rental scheme but, as it has been designed to build-to-sell apartment standards, it provides flexibility for purchasers. The three blocks are arranged around a central courtyard, with a pocket park and surrounding landscaped cycle-friendly grounds and basement-level parking. The site extends to approximately 2.87 acres. The Business Post, 19th September
Colbert Station Quarter, Limerick A plan has been launched by the Land Development Agency (LDA) for a “major urban development” in Limerick City. The LDA has launched a public consultation for the plan of the development in Colbert Station Quarter, which it has said will “transform this part of Limerick City”. It plans to build up to 2,800 homes over time by using State land as part of the Government’s Housing for All plan, along with commercial space, public spaces and transport options. The redevelopment would be the largest-ever transfer of State land for housing and includes major strategic sites in Limerick’s Colbert Station, including lands owned by CIE and the HSE. The Irish Independent, 16th September
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