26th April (Issue 344)

Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin Having been offered to the market by agent Lisney at a guide price of €1.925m, the Dún Laoghaire branch of Bank of Ireland at 101/102 Upper George’s Street has been acquired by a private Irish investor for €2.5m. While the €2.5m paid for the building represents a premium of 30% on the figure sought by Lisney, the new owner stands to secure a 4.98% NIY on their investment. 101-102 Upper George’s Street is let to Bank of Ireland on a 25-year lease from 2006. Prior to launching the property for sale, Lisney agreed a re-gear of the lease with Bank of Ireland which involved removing the 2023 tenant-break option while reducing the passing rent to €137k pa. The subject property comprises a three-storey over basement mixed-use commercial building extending to 6,270 sq. ft. The ground floor is in use by Bank of Ireland as a retail bank branch and the upper floors comprise office accommodation and are accessed internally by staircase. The building has a car park to the rear providing parking for 11 cars. The Irish Times, 20^th April

Naas, Co Kildare Having joined forces with KKR last December on the €195m purchase of the Core portfolio, a collection of 73 industrial and logistics properties distributed across Dublin and the GDA, Palm Logistics is to invest €100m in the portfolio’s largest single asset over the next five years. Naas Enterprise Park comprises an entire park of more than 100 acres, and over 1.5m sq. ft. of industrial and office accommodation. While the scheme is currently home to more than 100 businesses employing more than 2,000 people, Palm estimates that its investment offers the potential to double this existing workforce. The Irish Times, 20^th April

Newbridge, Co Kildare German firm Union Investment has purchased a distribution centre in Newbridge, County Kildare, marking its first entry in the Irish logistics market. The purchase price was not disclosed. Primark will open the centre by the end of summer 2024. The clothing retailer’s property investment arm, Barola Capital DAC will forward fund the project’s base construction through a €43m investment. Primark will invest a further €75m in the facility, which will comprise of a distribution centre, warehouse and office space on a 38-acre site. The scheme, which will have a cumulative gross floor area of 694,800 sq. ft., was granted approval by Kildare County Council last October. Union Investment made the acquisition on behalf of the institutional real estate fund, UniInstitutional European Real Estate. React News, 21^st April 

Grange Castle Business Park, Dublin Structure Tone Limited has begun building a €10m two-storey data centre for Interxion, a Dutch-based IT services company, at Grange Castle Business Park in Dublin. The data centre, known as IX DUB 4.0, spans c. 79,437 sq. ft. It is estimated that works are expected to take c. 18 months to complete. The Business Post, 24^th April

Portlaoise, Co Laois Laois County Council has approved plans by Midland Steel Supplies Limited to develop a €16.8m manufacturing campus within the Togher National Enterprise Park in Portlaoise. The development will measure 113,624 sq. ft. and will include a manufacturing campus, a three-storey supporting office building with staff facilities and associated works. The Business Post, 24^th April

Bride Street, Dublin 8 CitizenM and BCP Capital have completed a deal to buy a site for the development of a 245-room hotel in Dublin. Construction for the consented project is due to begin this August, and once completed it will be the first fully modular-built commercial building in Ireland. Situated at 69 Bride Street opposite St Patrick’s Park, the hotel is due to open in 2024. React News, 21^st April

Ben Dunne Gyms, Ireland Businessman Ben Dunne has permanently shut down half of his gyms due to the business impact of Covid-19. In an interview, Mr. Dunne has described the Covid-19 business impact on his business as ‘horrendous’. Mr. Dunne said that the business was heading towards €13m in revenues pre-Covid “and in the current year we are heading towards €6m”. The six Ben Dunne gyms that have been shut down are Lucan, Jervis Street, Beacon and Sandyford in Dublin along with Navan and Waterford. New accounts lodged by Barkisland (Developments) Ltd show that revenues plunged by 91%, or €5.17m from €5.66m to €494.8k, in the 12 months to the end of May last. Barkisland, which accounts for several gyms in the group, recorded a pre-tax loss of €1.55m and this followed a pre-tax profit of €1.2m in the prior year. The accounts state that Ben Dunne gyms were closed most of the period from March 2020 to June 2021 and since reopening in June 2021 “are trading strongly”. The Irish Independent, 21^st April

Hospitality Assets, Dublin Liquidators for Irish Bank Resolution Company (IBRC) are preparing to sell three prime hospitality assets formerly owned by businessman Sean Quinn. The 67-bedroom Buswells hotel, which sits opposite Leinster House, should be placed on the market in the coming months along with two pubs: the Barge, on the Grand Canal in Dublin, and JW Sweetman on Burgh Quay. The liquidators, KPMG, took control of the businesses in 2019, after long-running litigation between IBRC and the Quinn family was settled in April that year. The timeline for the liquidation of IBRC was extended until 2024 because of fears that the fallout from Covid-19 could knock c. 30% off the value of property disposals. Buswells was valued at €19m in late 2018. The Barge was valued at €3.2m and JW Sweetman at €4.67m. The Sunday Times, 24^th April

Drogheda, Co Louth Having failed to secure a buyer when it was offered to the market at a guide price of €2.75m in June last year, a ready-to-go development site in Drogheda, Co Louth is being put up for auction on the Offr digital platform on Thursday, May 12^th, with a reserve price of €2m. The site, which has full planning permission in place for a 150-bedroom nursing home, is being sold by CBRE on the instruction of receiver BDO. The existing planning permission provides for a nursing home facility in a part-two-storey, part-three-storey building with direct access from Twenties Lane. The site is currently zoned G1 – Community Facilities “to provide for and protect civic, religious, community education, health care and social infrastructure” under the Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027. The Irish Times, 20^th April

Tallaght, Dublin 24 An Bord Pleanála has refused permission for Bartra Capital to construct a five-storey 131-bed nursing home and step-down facility at Cookstown Industrial Estate in Tallaght. The scheme also included an additional 139 residential units in two apartment blocks, with one reaching to eight storeys. The nursing home and apartment scheme faced local opposition and South Dublin County Council refused planning permission across a number of headings. An Bord Pleanála had previously refused planning permission to Bartra for 150 BTR apartment units and 222 shared co-living units on the site in 2019. The Irish Times, 22^nd April

Poolbeg, Dublin 4 Dublin City Council has granted permission to Pembroke Beach DAC to build its €120m Pembroke Quarter mixed-use development on the former Irish Glass Bottle and Fabrizia sites at Poolbeg in Dublin 4. The development is backed by the Ronan Group, Oaktree Capital Management and Lioncor Developments and sits on 37.8 acres in the Poolbeg West strategic development zone planning scheme. The scheme will measure over 656,600 sq. ft. and will include 600 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in blocks ranging in height from three to 16 stories. The development will also include a childcare facility, gym, retail and office elements and infrastructural works. The Business Post, 24^th April

Walkinstown, Dublin 12 Developer Steeplefield Limited has lodged a SHD Application for the construction of a €121m mixed-use BTR development called Greenvale at the former Chadwicks Builders Merchant development, south of Greenhills Road and north of the existing access road serving Greenhills Industrial Estate in Walkinstown, Dublin 12. The proposed scheme comprises 633 (mostly one-bedroom) apartments, a two-storey office building, commercial units and a childcare facility. The Business Post, 24^th April

Bray, Co Wicklow Irish housebuilder Lioncor is on course to secure c. €92m from the sale of hundreds of new homes it is developing in Co Wicklow to approved housing body (AHB) Co-Operative Housing Ireland. Located on the Southern Cross Road near Bray, Kilruddery Glen is set to comprise 208 A-rated homes. The proposed price tag equates to an average of €442.3k per unit. Due for completion towards the end of this year, the scheme will consist of 30 houses, 18 duplexes and 160 apartments distributed across four blocks. Co-operative Housing Ireland will own and manage the development. The Irish Times, 20^th April

Saggart, South-West Dublin Located in the heart of Saggart village, a site with full planning permission for 28 apartments and two commercial units will come for auction via the Offr digital platform on Thursday, May 12^th. The 0.89-acre site, which is being marketed by Cushman & Wakefield, carries a reserve price of €1.4m. The existing planning permission comprises a one-bedroom apartment, six two-bedroom apartments, 10 two-bedroom duplexes units, 10 three-bedroom duplexes and a three-bedroom house. The development also includes a 2,830 sq. ft. retail unit and a 1,076 sq. ft. office unit along with 28 surface car-parking spaces. The Irish Times, 20^th April

Blackrock, South Co Dublin The co-owners of the Press Up Hospitality group, Paddy McKillen Jnr and Matthew Ryan, have secured planning permission for plans for a €182m apartment scheme for a site near Blackrock. Last December, the businessmen’s Oval Target Ltd lodged SHD plans with An Bord Pleanála for a 493-unit scheme, comprising 11 apartment blocks – one rising to 10 storeys – on land at St Teresa’s, Temple Hill, Monkstown, Blackrock. However, in its decision, An Bord Pleanála has ruled that one five-storey block containing 41 apartments be removed from the scheme and that the use of a first floor in another block be changed from residential to childcare. Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council had recommended that permission be refused. Oval Target Ltd had previously secured planning permission for 291 residential units in June 2019 on the same site in the face of some local opposition concerning aspects of the scheme. That permission remains in place. 41 objections were lodged against the new scheme. The number of apartments to be sold to the council will now be reduced on a pro-rata basis in line with the reduced number of homes approved. The documentation lodged on behalf of Oval Target put an indicative price of €512.7k on the three-bedroom units, €485k on the larger two-bedroom units and €352.3k on the one-bedroom units. The Irish Times, 21^st April

Stillorgan, Dublin Cairn Homes is seeking permission for a 377 apartment BTR scheme on a site previously earmarked for student accommodation. Cairn owns a site in Stillorgan, Dublin, that formerly held a motor dealers and the once-popular Blake’s restaurant. The company got permission over four years ago for 548 student bed spaces and 103 apartments on the site but has now decided instead to build apartments there to meet demand for homes in the area. Its application is for 377 apartments laid out in six blocks ranging from three to nine storeys. The homes will be a mix of bedsits and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Locals and third parties have until May 12^th to make observations to An Bord Pleanála on Cairn’s application. The board must decide on the project by June 2^nd. The Irish Times, 21^st April

Leopardstown, Dublin 18 An Bord Pleanála has reduced the scale of a proposed €230m 463 apartment scheme in response to concerns expressed by the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and residents. The appeals board granted planning permission for the Homeland Group scheme which comprises six apartment blocks, with one block originally rising to 10 storeys, at lands at St Joseph’s House at Brewery Road and Leopardstown Road in Dublin 18. As part of its order, the board has asked that a four-storey section of one block – comprising eight apartments – be omitted. The board has also sought that the height of another block be reduced by one storey to seven and that another 10-storey section be reduced to nine. Over 100 objections were lodged against the scheme. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council recommended planning permission be refused on four grounds. The Irish Times, 21^st April

Cornelscourt, South Dublin Plans for a 419-apartment BTR residential scheme on a site in Cornelscourt village in south Dublin have secured permission from An Bord Pleanála. Cornel Living Ltd has won approval for the scheme fronting on to the N11 at Old Bray Road, Cornelscourt, Dublin 18, despite opposition from residents and a recommendation by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that it be refused on five separate grounds. More than 50 objections were lodged by local residents against the “fast track” scheme, with one of its five blocks rising to 12 storeys. The scheme comprises 294 one-bed apartments, 111 two-bed apartments, seven three-bed apartment units and seven three-bed houses. Cornel Living is proposing to lease 42 units to the council for social housing in line with social housing provisions. Cornel Living was refused permission in April 2020 for a 468-unit scheme on the same site. The Irish Times, 20^th April

Social Housing Units, Ireland 80% of new-build social homes delivered last year were acquired from private-sector developers, with just 20% supplied directly by local authorities or approved housing bodies. Figures obtained from the Department of Housing underscore the State’s reliance on the private sector for its housing needs. They show a total of 5,142 new social homes were delivered in 2021, significantly fewer than the Government’s original 9,500 target. A detailed breakdown of the total shows 3,481 units were acquired by way of so-called turnkey purchases, where the local authority or housing body enters a forward-purchasing arrangement with a private developer, or through the Part V rule. A further 615 units came from public-private partnership schemes on State lands with private-sector developers. Just 1,046 were delivered directly by local authorities under the Social Housing Capital Investment Programme or by approved housing bodies through the Capital Advance Leasing Facility or through the State’s Capital Assistance Scheme, which funds the provision of rented accommodation for those with special needs. The Irish Times, 20^th April

Dalkey and Ashbourne, GDA Knight Frank has brought development sites in Dalkey and Ashbourne to the market with guide prices of €2.5m each. The Dalkey site extends to c. 0.37 acres and is located on Barnhill Road in Co Dublin. It benefits from a recent An Bord Pleanála grant of permission for three detached, five-bedroom houses and the conversion of the existing old schoolhouse/garage building into a two-bedroom town house. In addition, two existing town houses on site are to be refurbished as exempt development providing a total of six houses on site. Nine car spaces are also to be provided on site together with an upgraded entrance from Barnhill Road. The site is zoned Objective A to protect and/or improve residential amenity under the DLRCC Development Plan and under the Draft DLRCC Development Plan 2022-2028 it is set to retain its zoning.
The second site in Ashbourne, Co Meath, extends to 5.4-acres and is zoned for housing. That price equates to just under €463k per acre. The entire site is zoned Objective A2 New Residential under the terms of the Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027. The Irish Independent, 21^st April

Blackrock, South Co Dublin Plans for a 41-unit apartment scheme for the Frascati Centre in Blackrock, Dublin, have been stalled. Three separate appeals have been lodged by south Dublin residents with An Bord Pleanála against the decision by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to grant planning permission for the scheme by IMRF II Frascati Ltd Partnership. The 41-unit scheme is the second phase of the overall development plan. Proposals for another 98 apartments at the Frascati site are also being opposed by locals and a decision is due on that application later in the year. The 41-unit scheme comprises 15 studios, 18 one-bed units and eight two-bed units in a U-shaped residential block, arranged around a central communal courtyard space. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last month determined that the proposal “would not significantly detract from the amenities of the area”. A decision is due on the appeal in August. The Irish Times, 22^nd April

Ardee, Co Louth The Ardee Partnership has lodged a SHD application to build 272 residential units at Drogheda Road in Ardee in Co Louth. The development includes the construction of 206 houses, 66 apartments and a creche. The scheme has a total floor area of 310,194 sq. ft. and an estimated development cost of €56m. The Business Post, 24^th April