26th November (Issue 474)
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.
RETAIL
Grafton Street, Dublin 2 New Balance Athletics has secured a 10-year lease at No. 104 Grafton Street for an annual rent estimated at €350k. The new store is housed in a five-storey, mid-terraced Georgian building with a basement, extending to approx. 6,880 sq. ft, including a 2,150 sq. ft ground floor retail space. The deal was handled by CBRE and Bannon on behalf of asset manager Macquarie Asset Management. Savills Ireland represented New Balance in the transaction. The Business Post, 23rd November
Celbridge, Co Kildare Coonan Property are seeking offers of €1.05m for an investment opportunity on Celbridge’s Main Street. The property comprises a two-storey building extending to approx. 3,197sq. ft with a rear car park. The property is under a long-term secure 20-year lease to AIB (expiring February 2030). The annual rent is €87,000 per annum with rent reviews every 5 years. The Business Post, 22nd November
Applegreen has said it plans to invest €1bn over the next five years to expand its operations in Ireland, America and Britain, and to expand its charging network for electrical vehicles. Earlier this year Applegreen opened a €10m service area at Clondrinagh in Limerick and invested €3m in an upgrade of its Midway service area in Portlaoise. It is due to open a new motorway services area off the M3 in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath next year. The Irish Independent, 25th November
Blanchardstown Morgan Stanley has financed Strategic Value Partners’ approx. €560m purchase of Blanchardstown Centre with an approx. €400m loan. Morgan Stanley originally financed the 1.2m sq. ft shopping centre with a €767m whole loan for Blackstone, which paid €930m for the Centre in 2016. The US investment firm handed back the keys to the lenders in 2020 as rent collections slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic. CoStar News, 21st November
INDUSTRIAL
Western Industrial Estate, Dublin 12 The largest industrial property letting in the third quarter of the year saw Danish furniture retailer Jysk occupy Building One at M50 Logistics Hub in Western Industrial Estate. Joint agents Harvey and Savills had been quoting €12.50 per sq. ft and are believed to have got close to that rent. Extending to 98,364 sq. ft, Building One warehouse area offers a clear internal height of 49 feet and loading is accessed via 18 dock levellers and four grade level doors including a cross-docking area. Its accommodation also includes 12,327 sq. ft of office space. The Irish Independent, 21st November
Ballymount, Dublin 12 C1 & C2 Ballymount Cross Industrial Estate has come to the letting market quoting an annual rent of €250k through letting agent Harvey. It comprises 23,024 sq. ft across a detached warehouse and office facility. The property has loading access via three full-height automated doors, 5.5m clear internal height, a forecourt/marshalling area to the front and car parking to the rear, as well as two-storey offices and staff facilities. The Irish Times, 20th November
Lisney Report According to the latest report from Lisney, activity in the industrial market was slow in Q3. For large new-build units, most landlords continue to secure 10 to 15-year leases with break options at years five or 10, rent-free periods of three or four months and headline rents at €12.50-€13.00 psf. Rents for smaller enterprise units of sub 16,000 sq. ft have also remained stable with a number of deals being done in excess of €16.50 psf. Lisney’s index of rents for industrial buildings across all of Dublin grew by 1.05% in 12 months to the end of September. The Irish Independent, 21st November
MIXED-USE
St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 No 2, formally home to a branch of Permanent TSB, has come to the market with a guide price of €2.5m through Lisney. The property is being sold with full vacant possession and comprises approx. 3,565 sq. ft net internal area (NIA), with a generous open-plan ground floor area of approx. 1,900 sq. ft NIA. The property is zoned Z5 City Centre in the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028, which encourages mixed-use development, adding potential for a variety of uses. The Irish Times, 20th November
HOSPITALITY
Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Thomas Röggla, an Austrian Investor, is preparing to buy The Fleet, a four-star hotel on Westmoreland Street which contains 100 rooms. The property has been on the market since June for €45m. The Investor already owns 15 four and five-star hotels around Ireland, including the Farnham Estate in Co Cavan, Dunboyne Castle hotel in Co Meath, Mount Wolseley in Co Carlow and the Aghadoe Heights hotel in Co Kerry. Although his portfolio, known as the TMR Hotel Collection, includes three hotels in Dublin, this will be his first in the city centre. David Goddard’s Davy Real Estate, now known as Lanthorn, looks set to buy the hotel on behalf of TMR. The Sunday Times, 24th November
OFFICE
Sandyford, Dublin 18 Agar Commercial Property Consultants are handling the sale of Suite 3 at The Mall in Sandyford, comprising of approx. 3,360sq. ft. The guide is €1.275m plus Vat. The property is located immediately adjoining the Beacon Hospital and Beacon Consultants Clinic. The ground floor suite is let to Beacon Hospital which pays a rent of €25k per annum, with a rent review due in October 2025 which could see the rent level rise. The upper three floors offer self-contained access with vacant possession. There are five dedicated car spaces attached to the property in the basement car park. The Business Post, 23rd November
RESIDENTIAL /DEVELOPMENT
Killiney, Co Dublin German asset management company DWS has bought Hayfield, a recently developed private apartment scheme in Killiney from Irish developer Park Developments for €97.5m in an off-market transaction. The acquisition has been made on behalf of two of DWS’s German institutional real estate funds and was structured as a forward purchase. The scheme will comprise 207 professionally managed rental apartments in courtyards, open space, along with car parking. CoStar News, 25th November
Cork City A tower apartment site 500 metres from Cork City Hall has been put up for sale where An Bord Pleanála approved a 118-unit development with 17 storey tower in 2019. However, the planning for the tall and dense development on a 0.8-acre Railway Gardens site – achieved under the Strategic Housing Development process – is set to expire in coming months, says selling agent ERA Downey McCarthy who guides at €4.75m (€40k per site). The Irish Examiner, 20th November
Approved Housing Bodies (“AHB’s”) The Republic’s main AHB’s are weighing a fresh bid to have their borrowings removed from the State’s balance sheet, as they seek to ease constraints on future financing and growth. The wider AHB sector, the most active bulk buyers of homes in the State had €7bn of borrowings at the end of 2023 on €8.3bn of housing stock, according to the AHB Regulatory Authority’s latest annual report, published last week. It either owned or managed more than 61,000 dwellings as of last December, compared with fewer than 37,000 four years earlier. The Housing Alliance, a representative body for the seven largest AHBs, including Clúid Housing, Oaklee and the Iveagh Trust, has begun a search for researchers to assess the benefits and drawbacks by the sector’s liabilities remaining on the Government’s balance sheet, which is subject to EU fiscal debt and budget restrictions. The Irish Times, 26th November
Adamstown Co Dublin, Oaklee, an approved housing body, has launched a 154-unit cost rental development in Adamstown, Co Dublin. It is made up of 71 one-bed, 81 two-bed and 2 three-bed apartments. Monthly rents for the Adamstown cost rental development, ranging from €1,525 to €1,800 a month, are at least 25% below market value, according to Oaklee and Quintain. To be eligible for cost rental housing, applicants’ net household income must be below €66,000 a year for Dublin developments, and €59,000 for elsewhere in the country. The Business Post, 25th November
Ires Reit, Ireland’s largest private sector landlord with around 4,000 units, has completed the disposal of 37 units in total as part of the previously announced target of 315 units over three to five years. It sold 20 assets in line with book value in a bulk sale and 17 units to individual purchasers achieving sales premiums of around 25%. The company expects to complete the disposal of at least a further 50 units in 2025, at an average sales premium of between 15% and 20%. Ires also said it has now completed a strategic exit from the Cork market, which will help improve cost structures and margins by focusing on the Greater Dublin Area to maximise efficiencies. The Irish Independent, 22nd November
OTHER
Convention Centre, Dublin The company that operates the Convention Centre Dublin last year enjoyed record pretax profits of €18.23m. Accounts filed by the facility’s operator, Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin DAC, show that pretax profits increased by 20% from €15.24m to €18.23m as revenues rose by 37% from €23.9m to €32.65m in 2023. In 2023 the venue welcomed 159,396 people across 131 events, compared to the 95,002 people who attended 109 events during 2022. The Office of Public Works owns the convention centre building on North Wall Quay while the operating company will continue to run the facility until 2035. The Irish Times, 25th November
If you have an article which you would like to have considered for inclusion in our next weekly report, please contact us at info@origincapital.ie