25th June (Issue 453)
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.
HOSPITALITY
Galway Tel Aviv-listed Fattal Hotel Group has bought the G Hotel & Spa in Galway for approx. €26m. The three-storey five-star hotel opened in 2005 and comprises 101 bedrooms. Its ground floor spans 18,000 sq. ft, with three separate lounges. Under the terms of the sale to Fattal Group, the hotel will retain its brand and will be part of the Leonard Limited Edition of individually branded hotels. The Galway hotel recently completed a €1m refurbishment. Leonardo is also reportedly buying another hotel in Dublin, which will be its second Nyx hotel in the Irish capital. Green Street News, 24th June
Limavady, Northern Ireland The four-star Roe Park Resort, on the outskirts of Limavady in Northern Ireland, has been listed for sale through CBRE with a guide price of £14m (approx. €16.5m). Roe Park Resort has been independently owned since it opened in 1995. In the last three years, the luxury resort has seen investment of over £3m. The 118-bedroom resort site, on 150 acres on the edge of the Roe Valley Country Park, has an 18-hole parkland golf course, driving range/golf academy, spa, restaurants, bars and health club. The Roe Park Resort has three self-catering properties with planning permission sought for the development of a further 11 detached self-catering units. The Business Post, 22nd June
Press Up Group Cheyne Capital, a London-based alternative investment manager, is set to take a majority equity stake in Press Up. The lender, which agreed an equity swap with Press Up’s current shareholders in a deal that should soon be finalised, is expected to provide further financing to the group upon completion of the deal. The Business Post, 23rd June
Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2, Plans by the Cork-based Corcoran family to build a hotel of up to seven storeys on Lower Baggot Street in Dublin have run into opposition from neighbours and the Irish Georgian Society. In its application the Corcorans’ Kilcolman Partnership said its proposed “guesthouse” would have 30 bedrooms. It would demolish a side extension, construct an extension that would be partly six and partly seven storeys, and change the use of a detached carriage house to a laundry facility. The Irish Independent, 24th June
Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork Cork City Council has granted permission to Mutual Enterprises to redevelop the former Uneeda Bookshop in a plan that will see it linked to the nearby BarBarossa and Bróg complex. The permission allows the change of use of the bookshop into a licensed premises and will see the ground-floor unit converted into a bar with an office and store on the first floor with a sky-bridge structure on the second-floor crossing Market Avenue to link into the existing complex that also includes the Voodoo Rooms nightclub. The Irish Examiner, 20th June
RETAIL
Tallaght, Dublin 24 Belgard Square West is being offered to the market by Colliers at a guide price of €9.1m. The asset generates rental income of €1.054m pa (10.54% NIY) from 16 of the scheme’s 18 units. The 18 units being offered for sale are all located at ground-floor level and range in size from 775 sq. ft to 15,000 sq. ft, for a total of 49,000 sq. ft of retail space. The scheme has a strong tenant line-up and a WAULT to break of 7.8 years. 74% of the rental income is reserved under upward-only rent review provisions. The Irish Times, 19th June
Killarney, Co Kerry A planning application has been lodged for the 25-year-old Killarney Outlet Centre. The application will see several retail units changed to food outlets, a seated dining zone and a bar created on the upper or first floor of the centre. Plans will also be lodged to upgrade the facade of the building which is blank alongside the Park Road entrance. A decision by Kerry County Council is due in August. The Irish Examiner, 24th June
Industrial / Logistics
Old Airport Road, Dublin Having been offered to the market at a guide price of €2.75m last November, a 1.8-acre site, jointly occupied by Emo Oil and Value Van Rentals on the Old Airport Road, has been acquired by a private investor for €3m (€1.67m per acre). The site on the Old Airport Road is jointly occupied by Emo Oil Limited under a 10-year lease expiring on March 31st, 2026, at a passing rent of €65k pa, and by Value Van Rentals Limited under a 10-year lease expiring on December 31st, 2029, at a passing a rent of €92k pa. The combined rent is €157k pa. The Irish Times, 19th June
Swinford, Co Mayo A retail warehouse in Newpark Industrial Estate, Swinford is being offered for sale and agents O’Donnellan & Joyce are guiding €1.9m for it. Located on a 2.14-acre site, the premises extends to 64,239 sq. ft over three floors and basement and has been providing retail, office, warehousing and a fitted-out restaurant area. The Irish Independent, 20th June
MIXED-USE
Dawson Street, Dublin 2 The Royal Irish Automobile Club (RIAC) is set to appoint an agent to identify an investor who would partner with the club to redevelop its headquarters on Dawson Street. The site comprises 34 Dawson Street and buildings to the rear, facing on to Anne’s Lane. The RIAC’s facilities currently include a restaurant, bar, reading room and library, meeting rooms, offices for the RIAC and Motorsport Ireland and a 61-space car park for members. The site is wholly owned by the RIAC and is debt-free. The property is understood to be valued at approx. €14m. The Irish Times, 25th June
Residential / Development
Douglas, Cork Cairn Homes is launching its first ever new home development in Cork at Bayly in Douglas, which is being handled by Savills New Homes. The three- and four-bedroom A2-rated houses are launching within the 193-unit scheme. Most homes will be eligible for Help to Buy and First Homes Scheme and for a green mortgage. The house types include mid and end-of-terrace town houses and semi-detached homes, with three-bed homes priced from €445k and four-bedroom houses costing from €560k. The Business Post, 22nd June
Cabinteely, South Dublin Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is understood to have agreed a deal to pay Nama approx. €18m for a prime residential development site with scope for up to 370 homes just off Brennanstown Road in the South Dublin suburb of Cabinteely. The price being paid by the local authority represents a significant discount on the €35m which had been sought originally by CBRE when it brought the 29.4-acre site known as the Brennanstown Plot to the market on behalf of Nama-appointed receiver PwC in 2018. The Irish Times, 19th June
Sandyford, South Dublin Developer Sean Reilly is understood to have paid over €8m for the former Siemens building and site at Sandyford Industrial Estate. The off-market purchase of the property from the Dublin-based McCormack family’s investment vehicle Alanis Capital, which is understood to have been agreed in recent weeks, looks set to clear the way for the long-awaited delivery of apartments there. The approval provides for the construction of 190 build-to-rent apartments distributed across two blocks ranging in height up to 15 storeys along with two floors of office accommodation. The Irish Times, 19th June
Planning Applications, Cork A developer is seeking permission to build 16 new apartments in Grange outside the city. Authentic Homes Ltd has lodged an application to build a four-storey residential building including approx. 16 apartments at the former Grange Stores Site. Meanwhile, Esprit Investments Ltd has been granted permission by Cork County Council for the works at the Euro Business Park in Little Island. It includes the construction of 216,892 sq. ft of office space in a building which will range in height from three to 10 storeys. The Irish Examiner, 20th June
Ires Reit’s Canadian founder, Capreit, sold its remaining 9.7% stake in the apartments owner to a number of investors. The placing of shares was carried out by Goodbody Stockbrokers. London-based Asset Value Investors, an activist type of investors that had built up a 4.25% stake has now increased its interest to 6.33%. Other investors include Dutch investment house OVMKV, Barclays and Goodbody. The 50 million shares were sold at a price of 90 cents each, 2 cents below where the stock closed on Wednesday. Ires valued its net assets at the end of last year at €1.32 per share. The Irish Times, 21st June
Cushman & Wakefield Report Ireland is among countries most likely to appeal to international housing investors because of sizeable demand and requirement for residential accommodation for students, senior citizens and the growing population, according to a new report. The report, entitled ‘Unpacking Europe’s Living Revolution’, forecasts that Dublin will see the second-fastest growth of any European city between 2020 and 2040, when it will rise 14.1%, or an extra 210,000 people. The report also recognises that elevated interest rates and construction costs present viability hurdles to rapidly expanding housing output. The Irish Independent, 22nd June
Real Estate Alliance (REA) Report Tenants whose landlords are selling up are paying €30k over guide price to secure properties in Dublin before their leases expire, according to new research from the REA, a countrywide network of estate agents. The latest edition of the REA Average House Price Index, which covers the second quarter of this year, found that the number of sales in the capital due to landlords leaving the market rose six points to 25% in the past three month. The Business Post, 24th June
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