22nd October (Issue 219)
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
95 Baggot St Lower, Dublin 2 A four storey over basement Georgian office building has come to the market through Agent Mason Owen & Lyons guiding €2 million. The 2,975 sq.ft. (€672 psf) property is in full office use and comes with 8 car parking spaces to the rear. The rear half of the car park is zoned Z1 residential and there is lapsed planning for the construction of a 3 bed mews. Mason Owen & Lyons Property Update
Cuffe St, Dublin 2 Leading Cities Invest which is part of the KanAm Grund Group has purchased the Wythe building on Cuffe St. The Wythe Building is a six-storey grade A office building extending to 174,000 sq.ft. It is understood the property sold for c.€20 million (€115 psf) with joint agents CBRE and GVA Donal O’Buachalla. The building is fully let, occupied by four tenants and generates c.€950,000 in annual income with rents ranging from €55 to €57.50 psf. The Irish Independent, 17th October
39-43 Merrion Square The 5 buildings are being offered for sale by Lisney at a guide price of €15 million on behalf of current owner occupier, ESB. All five properties comprise three-bay, four-storey over-basement, mid-terrace buildings. All the buildings interconnect at first floor level. Additionally, numbers 39-41 are interconnected across all the upper floors; numbers 39-40 interconnect at basement level and numbers 42-43 are interconnected at the second and third floors. The total accommodation at numbers 39-43 extends to 30,050 sq.ft. on a net internal area basis (€500 psf) and there are 12 car parking spaces provided to the rear. The Irish Times, 16th October
HOTEL
Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links Northland Properties, a Canadian hotelier has bought the Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links from US real estate investment group Kennedy Wilson for c.€50 million. The purchase represents the company’s first investment in the Irish market. Since acquiring the resort for €27 million in 2014, Kennedy Wilson spent a further €5 million on a refurbishment programme involving an upgrade of all 134 of its guestrooms, and its banqueting and conference facilities. A new spa and enhanced golf facilities were also added. The Irish Times, 16th October
Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin 1 A bed and breakfast business with 22 bedrooms in the heart of Dublin city is going up for sale with a €3 million plus guide price through Agent John P Younge. The property comprises two adjoining buildings, one modern and one Georgian, at 49 Lower Gardiner Street, on the corner with Beresford Lane. The Georgian building extends to 3,500 sq.ft. over four storeys and basement and accommodates nine en-suite guest bedrooms as well as reception, office, drawing room and breakfast room. To its rear it is linked by a sky bridge to a modern 1,900 sq.ft. four-storey extension where there are 16 bedrooms and its own entrance off Beresford Lane. The Irish Independent, 17th October
INDUSTRIAL
Park West Industrial Park, Dublin 12 Units 9A and 9B Park West Industrial Park in west Dublin is for sale with a €3.05 million guide price (€90 psf) through Harvey. Sub-divided into two self-contained units, the combined block extends to 33,831 sq.ft. of which Unit 9A extends to 25,640 sq.ft. and Unit 9B to 8,191 sq.ft. The entire property is leased to Gardiner Group Ltd and the current annual rent is €235,000 (NIY 7.01%). The full repairing and insuring lease expires in June 2024 and there is an outstanding, upwards-only rent review as at June 23, 2019. The unit is currently sub-let to two sub tenants, both these sub leases will expire in advance of the lease expiry date and deeds of renunciation have been executed. The Irish Independent, 17th October
RESIDENTIAL / LAND
Naas Road, Dublin 12 The Irish Independent understands that Marlet Property Group has sold a 6.47-acre site with planning permission for 371 apartments at Carriglea Industrial Estate, Naas Road, Dublin 12, for close to its €12 million asking price (€1.85m per acre). The planning permission includes more than 220 two-bedroom units as well as one and three-bedroom units in addition to four commercial units and community accommodation including a crèche, gym and residents’ lounge. As a result of new planning regulations, it is thought that the site might have capacity for up to 500 units. The land is located 150 metres from the Bluebell Luas Red line stop. The Irish Independent, 17th October
Project Circle Chicago-headquartered real estate investment group Heitman has acquired a €46 million portfolio of residential units across Dublin. The 27 assets have a total of 214 apartments and three retail units and are a combination of studio, one and two-bedroom units. All are close to the city centre, in areas such as Clontarf, Rathmines, Rathgar, Ranelagh and South Circular Road. When the portfolio was initially put up for sale, Savills confirmed that the assets were fully let and generating €3.49m in rental income per annum. The Irish Independent, 21st October
Macken Street, Dublin 2 Bartra has received the green light for a new 200,000 sq.ft. high-rise office scheme at the Boston Sidings site in Dublin’s Docklands. An Bord Pleanála upheld Dublin City Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the 10-storey development in Dublin’s Silicon Docks. Bartra are developing the site at Grand Canal Quay and Macken Street in Dublin 2 in conjunction with site owner CIÉ. The Irish Times, 17th October
Sandyford, Dublin 18 The Irish Times understands that the Swedish student accommodation provider Prime Living are close to an agreement to sell a 1.8 acre site at the junction of Blackthorn Road and Carmanhall Road in Sandyford, south Dublin to a US investor for c.€23 million (€12.77m per acre). In 2015, the site was sold with the benefit of planning for 147 apartments, a creche, cafe, gym and 151 car parking spaces to U+I for €6.5 million. Prime Living then purchased the site in 2017 for €10.3 million and secured approval from An Bord Pleanála in May of this year for the development of 820 student bed spaces on the site. Due to the sites proximity to numerous technology, media and telecoms employers it is understood the prospective purchaser may consider a fresh planning application with a view to delivering a co-living scheme instead. The Irish Times, 16th October
Trinity Street, Dublin 2 A 0.06 acre site located at the junction of Trinity Street and Andrew’s Lane, and less than 250m from both Temple Bar and Trinity College Dublin has come to the market with Knight Frank guiding €4.5 million (€75m per acre). The subject site currently comprises a part two-storey/part four-storey over-basement level building of 8,353 sq.ft. However, the subject property comes for sale with full planning permission for a development comprising the refurbishment and extension of the existing four-storey element of the building, providing for a four-eight storey over basement level, 36 bedroom hotel along with bar and restaurant facilities extending to a total area of 18,858 sq.ft. The Irish Times, 16th October
Dalkey, South County Dublin Joint agents Savills and Hooke & MacDonald are guiding €7 million for the six-bedroom “Dalkey Manor” house of 2,939 sq.ft. with full planning permission for its demolition and development of 36 residential units (€194k per unit). Located off the Barnhill Road and less than 400 metres from the village of Dalkey. The approved scheme provides for 13 houses and 23 apartments distributed around a central spine and public space. All units will enjoy the benefit of sea views. The Irish Times, 16th October
Clonskeagh, Dublin 14 A 0.50 acre site on Roebuck Road in Clonskeagh is for sale in a targeted process at a guide price of €5.5 million (€11m per acre) with Lisney. The site comes with the benefit of two existing planning permissions. The original full planning permission is for 30 apartments, while the new permission, granted on July 5th is for up to 43 apartments and is more suited to the Build-to-Rent (BTR) sector. The property is on the western side of Roebuck Road, 5km south of St Stephen’s Green and 4km north of Dundrum Town Centre. The Irish Times, 16th October
Ballymun, Dublin 11 Agent Knight Frank is guiding €5.5 million for an 8.15 acre site (€675k per acre) located next to IKEA’s flagship store in Ballymun, Dublin 11. The site is currently in the ownership of Dublin City Council and is being offered for sale on a subject-to-planning permission basis. The property currently comprises a greenfield, undeveloped site with frontage of 165m on to the New St Margaret’s Road, and profile of 170m to the M50 motorway, 700m from the entrance to junction 4 of the M50 Motorway and close to the M1 interchange which provides excellent access to all major arterial routes. The Irish Times, 16th October
Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 Joint agents Lisney and JLL are guiding €5.25 million for a 27.71 acre site (€189k per acre) with potential for the development of an industrial premises at a greenfield site beside Northwest Business Park. The site is being offered for sale on behalf of CRH subsidiary, Belgard Estates, in three separate lots: Lot 1 8.52 acres, Lot 2 19.19 acres and Lot 3 The Entire 27.71 acres for sale by tender by 12 noon on Thursday, December 12 next with a guide price on the entire of €5.25 million. The subject site and surrounding area offer logistics operators ease of access to the M50, Dublin Airport and Dublin Port Tunnel. The Irish Times, 16th October
Royal Liver Retail Park, Naas Road, Dublin 12 An application for one of Dublin’s largest urban regeneration schemes has been made to Dublin City Council by Allied Real Estate Group (Areg) for the regeneration of the Royal Liver Retail Park on the Naas Road, near Bluebell in Dublin 12. The residential-led mixed-use scheme will include 1,305 residential units, a landmark Grade A office building, supermarket and commercial/retail around a central public plaza. The office building will extend to c.183,000 sq.ft. There will also be a supermarket, as well as a creche, pharmacy, medical centre, café and restaurant/bar. The mix of residential units will include 106 apartments for sale, 996 build-to-rent and 203 build-to-rent shared accommodation units. The Sunday Business Post, 20th October
OTHER
A Cushman and Wakefield report has stated that approximately €2.4 billion was invested in the Irish commercial property market in the nine months to September 2019. After a relatively strong first half of the year, the third quarter recorded turnover levels in excess of €786 million across 33 deals. The report also stated that the third quarter also witnessed a “switch up in the asset class rankings” with office transactions returning to the top of the table ahead of residential transactions. It said office assets accounted for approximately €989.4 million or 41% of total turnover in the nine months to September. The Irish Times, 22nd October
The Goodbody housebuilding tracker report states housing completions grew by 34% in Q3 to 6,200 year-on-year, bringing the total so far this year to 15,400, highlighting that the full-year 2019 outturn may modestly exceed its forecast of 21,000 units. Goodbody’s report said “a surge” in housebuilding in Dublin’s commuter belt contributed most to the growth in new dwellings, noting that in the third quarter, new dwelling completions grew by 57% year-on-year in the commuter counties. In contrast, completions grew by just 9% in Dublin. The report also noted that apartments represent a growing share of residential completions. However, their forecast of 24,000 housing completions next year is unlikely to materialise because of a slowdown in the market. The Goodbody Housebuilding Tracker report
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