Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1 The Morrison Hotel has been put up for sale by CBRE for between €90m-€95m. It was regraded to five-star status in 2023 with the hotel trading at more than 90% occupancy. The hotel comprises 157 bedrooms and suites but is expanding. The conversion of the Printworks conference room on the ground floor will provide eight new bedrooms and there will be a further four bedrooms on the fourth floor. The Morrison has three dining outlets: the Morrison Grill; the Halo restaurant; and the Quay 14 cocktail bar. The Irish Times, 22nd January
Kilkenny City An opportunity to develop a large-scale hotel facility in Kilkenny city is being brought to the market for €1.7m. The price reflects a discount, of more than 50%, on the last time the land came to market. Back in April 2023, it was marketed at a guide price of €3.75m. The hotel site, which is located on Wolfe Tone Street and John’s Green, is being offered for sale by joint agents, Savills and BDM. The 0.64-acre site has full planning permission for a 114-bedroom hotel and is just a short walk from Kilkenny Castle and the town’s entertainment district. The Irish Times, 22nd January
Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Lanthorn has purchased The Fleet Hotel on behalf of the TMR Collection. The 104-bed, four-star hotel was recently upgraded, with 11 rooms added to the existing 93 bedrooms, with the on-site bar and restaurant facilities also refurbished. The hotel was put on the market last summer at a guide of €45m. It is understood from property market sources that it was bought for less than the guide price. The TMR Collection includes the five-star Aghadoe Heights in Killarney, the 130-acre Ballymascanlon Hotel and Golf Resort in County Louth and the Connemara Coast Hotel along the Wild Atlantic Way. The Currency, 24th January
Lisney 2024 Review The value of Dublin pubs which changed hands in 2024 increased by over €22m to €69.6m, although the number of sales was unchanged at 20. Four of the sales accounted for 43% of the value. Eight of them sold for below €2m, and seven sold for between €2m and €4m. Attestor Capital continued to set near-record prices as it bought Devitt’s in Camden Street for over €14m, bringing to more than €130m the amount it has spent since 2021 buying Dublin and Cork pubs and hotels. The Business Post, 26th January
Camden Street, Dublin 2 Wetherspoon’s has been accused of trying to turn a “super-pub” into a “mega-pub” by planning to reopen a courtyard at its Keaven’s Port hotel. A Residents Association has told the council that the opening of the courtyard would mean that the super-pub would become a mega-pub “which is totally unsuitable to Camden Street’s scale and character.” Another Residents Association has told the council that the increase in customer numbers is likely to exacerbate issues in relation to public nuisance. Consultants for Wetherspoon contend that a glass screen will result in noise levels being kept within acceptable limits. Wetherspoon closed its beer garden at the venue in April 2022 in response to locals’ noise complaints. The Irish Times, 27th January
Lucan, Co Dublin Dunnes Stores paid €38m for a shopping centre in Lucan, where the anchor tenant is one of its biggest rivals. Cork-headquartered Musgrave runs a SuperValu in the centre, where it also has offices. In April last year, it signed a 20-year lease at an annual rent of €1.6m. The sale price is a steep discount on the €43m that Savills Investment Management paid for the centre on behalf of its European retail fund in 2017. The shopping centre has 24 outlets in total, including a McDonald’s, Starbucks and O’Brien’s wine shop. It opened in 1991, and the SuperValu store represents 60% of the centre’s present €2.7m rent roll. The Irish Times, 26th January
Dooradoyle, Limerick Colliers has completed the sale of Bank of Ireland on St Nessans Road for €1.9m. The sale achieved €200k above its €1.7m guide price, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.78%. The modern, single storey detached property comprises 3,625 sq. ft, which was extended and fully refurbished in 2014. It comes with 20 surface car parking spaces and sits on a site of approx. 0.34 acres. The Business Post, 24th January
Greystones, Co Wicklow JLL has brought an AIB branch located on Church Road to market for a guide price of €1.2m. Spanning 4,639 sq. ft, the two-storey redbrick building on the main street features a modern extension and includes three car parking spaces at the rear of the building. The entire property is in use as an AIB banking branch and is let to Kaval Limited on a 20-year lease from July 6, 2007, with Allied Irish Banks plc acting as a guarantor. There is 2.41 years of secure income remaining as of February 2025, with a current passing rent of €149k pa. The Business Post, 25th January
64 St Patrick’s Street, Cork Leased for 35 years by CIE who used it as an on-street ticket office before sub-letting it in more recent years, the 861 sq. ft ground floor retail space is available at an annual rent of €75k. This early-year activity on St Patrick’s Street sets the tone for what is predicted to be a busy 12 months on Cork’s main street. Retail giant Penney’s is expected to kick off its long-awaited expansion plan by April. The move will deliver a near 50% expansion of its flagship St Patrick’s Street store. The Irish Examiner, 23rd January
2-5 Warrington Place, Dublin 2 In plans lodged with Dublin City Council (“DCC”) in recent days, the Larry Goodman Trust owned Blackrock UC is seeking planning permission to change the use of an office development to a women’s health centre over four floors. A McGill planning report lodged with the application states that “Its proximity to key institutions such as The National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street and nearby specialised clinics ensures it is well-positioned to complement public healthcare services”. The planning report adds that “where more advanced treatments or invasive surgery are required, these will be referred to Blackrock Clinic and other hospitals”. A decision is due on the application in March. Rte.ie, 21st January
Kevin Street, Dublin 8 The High Court has ordered the winding up of GA Development Fund, an ICAV sub-fund involved in the beleaguered €475m Camden Yard development in Dublin. Myles Kirby has been appointed as liquidator. The move comes just weeks after the senior lender on the project, BentallGreenOak, appointed receivers to the development. The receivership is not impacted by the winding-up order. Bennett Construction, the main contractor, sought the order over outstanding debts (approx. €7.85m) owed to it by the sub-fund. The Currency, 27th January
Blessington, Co Wicklow Unit 1 in Blessington Industrial Estate is being offered for sale with vacant possession and comprises a total of approx. 33,096 sq. ft across three interconnected warehouses. Selling agents Savills are guiding €2.4m (€72.5 psf) for a receivership sale. The buildings boast clear internal heights of 4.1m to 6.5m as well as loading access via four automated roller shutter doors. Situated on a prominent corner site of approx. 1.4 acres, its outdoor area is laid out with 24 parking spaces and two electrical vehicle charging stations. The Irish Independent, 23rd January
James Street, Dublin 8 New Beginning, the debt advisory and housing firm, has paid €54.5m for a block of 111 apartments which Marlet has developed at its Grand Canal Harbour project off James Street. Known as Block 6, the premises has been let to DCC on a 25-year lease at approx. 75% of the market rent prevailing at the time of the deal with DCC. Marlet’s Grand Canal Harbour is a mixed-use development comprising 596 apartments and over 76,000 sq. ft of retail and amenity space. The Irish Independent, 23rd January
Finglas, Dublin 11 A site with planning permission for an apartment lead development in Finglas village has returned to the market guiding €1.3m, reduced from the €1.5m previously sought. The site of the former Drake Inn public bar has permission for a development of 25 apartments (eight 1-beds, 11 2-beds, six 3-beds) with a retail unit and café included. Cushman & Wakefield explains that the change in price reflects a change in the planning permission, as a previously proposed gastropub and basement level accommodation have been omitted. The scheme will extend to six storeys and will also include storage for 78 residential bicycle spaces. The Independent, 23rd January
An Bord Pleanála are facing appeals and judicial reviews for approx. 30,000 units in large-scale housing developments, it has been claimed. The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) estimates that over 16,000 units are subject to objections to the planning authority, and 13,000 are subject to judicial review. CIF director of housing and planning Conor O’Connell said the notion that sufficient numbers of construction workers are not present to build 50,000 housing units pa is “nonsense”, and that the industry doubled its housebuilding capacity from 2016 to 2019 – and then doubled it again from 2019 to 2023. Rather, “by far and away the biggest concern of housebuilders at the moment is the pipeline of work. We have enough for 2025, but we will be very concerned about the pipeline from 2026 onwards”. Mr O’Connell pointed to figures in the first nine months of 2024 indicating that only about 32,000 to 33,000 units will have been given planning permission last year. The Irish Times, 27th January
CIF Submission The CIF also made a detailed submission to the Government-formation talks on how to accelerate housebuilding in the State to meet targets of more than 50,000 units pa. The CIF wants the “headroom” of zoned land to be increased from 25% of estimated need to at least 50%. Currently, if a local authority feels that 1,000 homes are needed, it zones land for 1,250 homes. The CIF wants that increased to 1,500 units. The CIF called in its submission for Uisce Éireann to have ringfenced spending of €500m pa to ensure that more homes can be built. The Irish Times, 27th January
Old Station Road, Cork The Land Development Agency is to ramp up its housing delivery in Cork City with plans to build 140 affordable homes on a site currently used as a carpark by Cork City Council (CCC) workers. The majority of homes will be cost rental apartments with a percentage going to the council for social housing. The agency intends to lodge a planning application later this year with the hope of beginning construction by 2027 and delivering the first homes by 2030. CCC expects to publish the design for the project shortly. The Irish Examiner, 27th January
JLL Market Report Q4 2024 reached €1.3bn of investment across 35 deals. In terms of volumes, this was an upward trend of 88.2% from Q3 and 156.7% from the same period in 2023, being the first quarter to surpass €1bn since Q4 2022. Q4 2024 had the largest single asset sale since 2016, with Blanchardstown Shopping Centre signing at €562m. This renewed focus on retail assets, particularly shopping centres, is primarily attributed to their strong cash-on-cash returns relative to traditional commercial real estate sectors such as offices and logistics. After a challenging 2024, the outlook for 2025 appears more optimistic. JLL Ireland, 22nd January
CBRE Market Outlook 2025 Ireland’s domestic economy will continue to grow in 2025, given its healthy financial profile and employment levels. Ireland has re-elected a broadly centrist government, which will seek to address key issues influencing real estate, from rent regulation to taxation and planning. This will provide more opportunities for investors and developers, particularly in the residential sector this year. Despite inflation in the Euro area and a selloff in the bond markets in early 2025, base interest rates will continue to tick down over the next 12 months. Irish investment spend was 40% below the long-term average in 2024 but will improve in 2025. CBRE Ireland, 23rd January
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