29th March (Issue 340)
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
IFSC, Dublin No. 1 North Wall Quay is being offered to the market by Knight Frank at a guide price of €120m. It currently comprises a six-storey, over-basement office building of c. 230,000 sq. ft. with 139 car-parking spaces. The subject property occupies a two-acre site with 125 metres of river frontage in the city’s north docklands. The site is zoned Objective Z5 under both the current Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022 and the Draft Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028. With the proposed changes to car-parking provision in the upcoming Draft Dublin City Council Development Plan 2022-2028, the presence of 139 existing basement car spaces will be seen by the purchaser as a significant asset to the site. Citi intends to remain in occupation of No. 1 North Wall Quay for a period of time post-sale while it completes the purchase and fit-out of its new HQ, and this search has already commenced. The Irish Times, 23rd March
Albert Quay, Cork Progressive Commercial Construction Limited has received planning approval for the demolition of an existing two-storey Carey Tool Hire building and the construction of a €59m office development on Albert Quay in Cork city. The 16-storey development extends to 248,151 sq. ft. and comprises offices, meeting space at level 15, external terraces on four floors of the building and two levels of basement car, bicycle and motorbike parking. There are plans for a ground floor cafe/deli with outdoor seating, the refurbishment and reuse of two protected structures which will be refurbished for office use and as a public bar/restaurant use with outdoor seating. The Business Post, 27th March
Parliament Street, Cork Joint agents Cohalan Downing and Colliers last week confirmed the off-market sale of 32 South Mall in Cork city, for an undisclosed sum. The building had been on the market guiding €13.5m and houses Bank of Ireland’s Munster head office until 2032. Spanning c. 226,909 sq. ft., No. 32 occupies a prime corner position with frontage onto the South Mall and Parliament Street. The entire property is let to the Governor & Company of the Bank of Ireland on a FRI lease that commenced on February 6, 2007 and will expire on February 5, 2032. The current passing rent is €864.88k pa and benefits from five-yearly upward-only rent review provisions. The Business Post, 27th March
Office Portfolio, Dublin Blackstone is closing in on a deal to secure Facebook’s Fibonacci Square and Salesforce’s new Docklands tower from Fortress Investment Group and developer Johnny Ronan in Dublin for c. €1bn, in one of the largest deals in Europe this year. The purchase price equates to a NIY of c. 4%, although the deal has not yet concluded. Fibonacci Square is situated at Merrion Road on part of the former AIB Bank centre in Ballsbridge. In 2018, Facebook signed a 25-year pre-let on the entire 350,000 sq. ft. office block being developed by RGRE as part of its new campus. The asset is valued at c. €450m.
Should the deal with Fortress conclude, Blackstone will own c. 700,000 sq. ft. of Facebook’s 900,000 sq. ft. European campus.
Salesforce’s new tower is located at the North Wall Quay in Dublin 1. RGRE and Colony secured the US giant on a 420,000 sq. ft. pre-let in 2019. The Spencer Place asset is valued at c. €550m-€600m. React News, 28th March
HOSPITALITY
Temple Bar, Dublin 2 The Paramount Hotel is being offered at a new guide price of €20m, or €5m less than the €25m agent CBRE had been seeking when it first put the property up for sale in November 2019. Located in the capital’s Temple Bar district, the Paramount Hotel currently comprises 66 bedrooms, with full planning permission in place to increase this number to 122 bedrooms. The hotel and its bar, the Turk’s Head, occupy a pivotal location on Parliament Street. The Paramount Hotel currently operates from 10 interconnecting prominent buildings with frontage to Parliament Street, together with frontages to Essex Gate and Upper Exchange Street. The Irish Times ,23rd March
Castletownbere, West Cork Situated at the heart of Castletownbere in west Cork, the boutique four-star Beara Hotel is being marketed by Colliers at a guide price of €1.5m. The Beara Hotel briefly includes 16 bedroom suites, six of which have balconies overlooking the harbour, a function room with capacity for 300 attendees, a bar with casual-dining facilities, a library/conference room, fully-fitted commercial kitchens, and a spacious reception area. The hotel underwent a full upgrade in 2016. The works carried out at the time included the refitting of all bathrooms, upgrading of the bars, restaurant and ballroom, and the full equipping of its kitchen facilities. The Irish Times, 23rd March
Smithfield, Dublin 7 TPG, a private equity company, has agreed to buy the Hendrick Smithfield hotel in Dublin for more than €35m. It is the first acquisition of an Irish hotel by TPG. The purchase comes two months after the Hendrick was put on the market by the Dublin Loft Company, a business run by Mark, Andrew and Kelly Cosgrave of the Cosgrave family of builders. The 147-bedroom hotel was built in 2018 and has been operated under a management agreement with Tifco Hotel Group since 2019. The Sunday Times, 27th March
St James Street, Dublin 8 An Bord Pleanála has given the green light to a seven-storey, 148-bedroom budget hotel for St James Street in Dublin. The decision by the appeals board to grant planning permission to James St. Hotel Ltd overturns a decision by Dublin City Council that refused planning permission for the scheme in November 2020. Planning documentation lodged with the application said that the firm’s business model was focused on providing “high quality compact rooms” and an absence of a food and beverage operation “given the abundance of city centre alternatives”. The site already had planning permission for an aparthotel. The Irish Times, 25th March
INDUSTRIAL / LOGISTICS
Airways Industrial Estate, Dublin Three logistics units at Dublin’s Airways Industrial Estate are being offered to the market by JLL at a guide price of €11m. The units are fully let with 62% of the rental income coming from State agencies, namely the Department of Justice and Equality and the Office of Public Works. The third unit is let to FedEx. The sale offers annual rental income of €671.27k from April 2022 along with the added benefit of upwards-only rent reviews that promise a reversionary yield of c. 8.1%. Taken together, the three units extend to 127,000 sq. ft. and a WAULT of c. 2.6 years. The current zoning objective under the Fingal Development Plan 2017-2023 is GE (general employment), which aims to provide opportunities for general enterprise and employment in the area. The Irish Times, 23rd March
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Ballycoolin, Dublin 15 Harvey is guiding €11m for Unit 200 at Northwest Business Park in Ballycoolin, Dublin 15. The subject property briefly comprises two separate warehouse and office buildings, extending to a total area of 70,267 sq. ft. on a self-contained and gated site of 5.34 acres, representing a very low site density of just 30%. Building 1 extends to 58,329 sq. ft. and Building 2 accounts for the remainder of the overall floor area. The sale of the property offers short-term secured income of €600k pa (exclusive) until the end of October 2022 from GLS (not affected). The company has an option to extend its tenancy from November 2022 to the end of January 2023. Should it choose to exercise this option, it must do so prior to May 1st, 2022. In that event, the rent payable steps to €750k pa (exclusive) for the extended period. There are no rights in favour of the tenant to occupy the property after January 2023. The Irish Times, 23rd March
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Blanchardstown, West Dublin Iput Real Estate is closing in on the purchase for more than €50m of a major landholding near Blanchardstown in Dublin. The company’s acquisition of the 118.40 acre Killamonan Business Park will bring its overall holding in the area surrounding the Cherryhound Interchange on the M2 to 182.44 acres. The developer has agreed to pay €15m (43%) above the €35m joint agents Cushman & Wakefield and Savills had been guiding. The holding is currently undeveloped and is mainly in agricultural use. There is an existing dwelling on part of the lands known as Killamonan House and Gardens, which extends to c. 1.5 acres and also formed part of the sale. The Killamonan site is zoned entirely for general employment use under the Fingal County Development Plan 2017-2023. The lands also have the benefit of the Cherryhound Local Area Plan (2017-2022) which provides a framework to facilitate their development. The Irish Times, 24th March
Tolka Industrial Estate, Dublin 11 Dublin City Council has refused planning permission to Bartra to construct 71 apartments and office accommodation at Tolka Industrial Estate, Dublin 11. Earlier this year Bartra Property (Broombridge) Ltd lodged plans with the council for a mixed-use development comprising 79,147 sq. ft. of office accommodation and 71 apartments made up of 24 one-bed units, 40 two-bed and seven three-bed units for the site on Ballyboggan Rd. The scheme is across two blocks with one six-storey block over basement reserved for office accommodation with the residential component occupying a nine-storey block. The application by Bartra was the second attempt by the firm in the past year to develop the site. Last June, Bartra lodged fast-track plans for 142 apartments under the SHD system for the site with An Bord Pleanála. The appeals board refused planning permission in October. Bartra has the option of appealing the most recent decision to An Bord Pleanála. The Irish Times, 28th March
MIXED-USE
Douglas, Cork Lidl’s €550m Irish expansion plans have received a boost after securing the green light for contentious plans for a new outlet at Douglas outside Cork City. In granting planning permission to Lidl Ireland GmbH for a new store for a site on the Douglas Relief Road roundabout, An Bord Pleanála has overturned a decision by Cork City Council to refuse planning permission for the outlet last August. Tesco Ireland raised concerns over Lidl’s plan when it was before Cork City Council. The four-storey scheme also includes apartments on the top two levels. The Irish Examiner, 22nd March
Tallaght, Dublin 24 Works are expected to commence shortly on the construction of the €10m Tallaght Innovation Centre, which will span 32,290 sq. ft. in a new four-storey building on South Dublin County Council lands adjoining Belgard Square North in Dublin 24. The scheme will accommodate a town hall, reception and café at street level; three levels of flexible office accommodation, bicycle parking, and 11 new car parking spaces. The Business Post, 27th March
East Road, Dublin 1 Development 8, a Dublin-based real estate management and development company, has been given the go ahead for a 106-bedroom hotel in Alexandra Place on East Road in Dublin 1. Permission has also been granted for the refurbishment and extension of the adjoining apartment block, also on East Road with the addition of 58 apartments. The final development will comprise a mix of 131 studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments. The boutique hotel incorporates a ground floor bar, restaurant and conference suite including external terraced restaurant area. The building spans four stories to its rear and eight to the front. Work is expected to begin on site mid 2023 with an anticipated completion date of the end 2024. The Business Post, 27th March
Donnybrook, Dublin 4 Cairn Homes has revealed details of its fresh proposal to develop the 8.65-acre site at Montrose with 690 apartments (416 BTR, 274 for sale) across 10 blocks up to 16 storeys in height. They also provide for a 202-bedroom hotel and restaurant, creche, artisan food shop and restaurant/café. The development firm bought the large site located off the Stillorgan Road from RTÉ for €107.5m in 2017. An order granting planning permission for the original plans by Cairn Homes to build 614 residential units on the site was quashed by the High Court in March 2021 and An Bord Pleanála consented to the High Court order. Cairn Homes has also sought permission for a change of use of Mount Errol House – a protected structure – from commercial offices and studios to a restaurant and coffee shop. Underground car parks will provide spaces for 453 vehicles with 33 surface car park spaces as well as parking facilities for 1,160 bicycles. Cairn Homes has applied for planning permission for its latest plans under the new system for large scale residential developments. It requires Dublin City Council to issue a ruling on the company’s planning application within eight weeks following which an appeal can be made to An Bord Pleanála which must issue its decision within a 16-week deadline. The Irish Independent, 28th March
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
Fairview, Dublin 3 Dublin City Council has refused planning permission for a 120-bed student accommodation development for Convent Avenue in Dublin 3. Earlier this year, Kilcarne Estates Ltd lodged plans for the two six-storey apartment blocks to house the accommodation. The scheme consists of 18 student apartments; eight six-bed units, eight seven-bed units and two eight-bed units. The site is currently occupied by a vacant warehouse. The developers have the option of appealing the decision to An Bord Pleanála. The Irish Times, 28th March
RESIDENTIAL / DEVELOPMENT
Rathmines, Dublin 6 A site with full approval for 26 apartments in Rathmines is being offered to the market by Knight Frank at a guide price of €3m (€115k per unit). The site itself extends to 0.32 acres and is occupied currently by two vacant dwellings. No. 189 has been extended to the rear and divided into five self-contained flats while No. 190 consists of a single residential unit. There is full planning permission in place for the demolition of all existing buildings and the construction of a new three to five-storey apartment building comprising 26 apartments (two studios, 13 one-bed and 11 two-bed units) with communal roof garden amenity space at third-floor level. The subject site falls under the Dublin city development plan 2016-2022 and is zoned Objective Z1: Sustainable Residential Neighbours “To protect, provide and improve residential amenities.” The Irish Times, 23rd March
Kilbarry, Cork Cork County Board is planning to lodge fast-track plans to An Bord Pleanála for 309 residential units on GAA lands in Kilbarry. The Cork County Board completed a nine-week long pre-planning consultation with the appeals board that also involved input from Cork City Council planners. The county board is proposing the construction of 197 houses, 112 apartments, a creche and associated works on land on Old Whitechurch Road in the city. It is now open to the Cork County Board to take into account the views expressed by An Bord Pleanála before lodging an SHD application to the board. The Irish Times, 23rd March
SHD Applications, Cork and Dublin An Bord Pleanála has told Hibernia Star Ltd that its plans for 498 apartments for Jacob’s Island, Ballinure, Mahon, Co Cork require further consideration or amendment.
In a Dublin SHD case, the appeals board has told The Arden Team DAC that their planned 620 residential unit scheme for “The Foothills” in the townlands of Killinarden and Kiltalown, Tallaght, Dublin 24 also requires further consideration or amendment. The Irish Times, 23rd March
SHD Applications, Dublin Steeplefield is to lodge fast-track plans in the coming days for a 633-unit BTR apartment scheme for Walkinstown for four blocks ranging in height from five to 12 storeys on the site of the former Chadwicks Builders Merchants south of Greenhills Road in Dublin 12. The scheme is made up of 292 one-bed, 280 two-bed and 61 three-bed apartments and is to include 10 commercial units and a childcare facility.
In another SHD scheme, Kelland Homes and Durkan Estates Ireland are to lodge plans for 655 residential units at Boherboy, Saggart made up of 257 houses, 152 duplex units and 246 one-, two- and three-bed apartments across nine blocks ranging in height from two to five storeys in height.
Finally, Lioncor Developments firm, Terenure Land Ltd has lodged fast-track plans for 208 units for a site located to the north and east of Ben Dunne’s Carlisle gym at Kimmage Road West in Dublin 12. The scheme is made up of 104 one-bed and 104 two-bed apartments across five blocks up to six storeys in height. The Irish Times, 24th March
Dunshaughlin, Co Meath Works are under way on a €7.5m residential scheme in Co Meath. Entitled Lagore Lawn, the development comprises the construction of 42 residential units in a mix of 16 one-bedroom apartments and 26 two, three and four-bedroom housing units and all associated ancillary site works on Lagore Road in Dunshaughlin. The Business Post, 27th March
Enniscorthy, Co Wexford An application for the €14m Enniscorthy flood defence scheme along the river Slaney has been reportedly rejected by Michael McGrath, the Minister for Public Expenditure, based on the design’s environmental impact. The funding for the scheme remains in place and a proposal with the recommended modifications to meet the environmental criteria can be resubmitted to An Bord Pleanála by the OPW and Wexford County Council. The Business Post, 27th March
Shankill, Co Dublin Developer Joe O’Reilly’s Aeval Unlimited is set to begin works on site building the first 133 houses at Woodbrook in Shankill, Co Dublin, where 685 new homes are planned for the €150m residential scheme on completion. Woodbrook will comprise 207 houses, 430 apartments and 48 duplexes, a crèche, two linear parks which connect the development to Shanganagh Public Park, car parking and bicycle parking. The Business Post, 27th March
Dundrum, Dublin 14 Eircom has lodged a SHD Application with An Bord Pleanála to build 111 apartment units at Sommerville House on Dundrum Road in Dublin 14. The development consists of 54 one-bedroom and 57 two-bedroom units, on a total floor area of 110,760 sq. ft. The Business Post, 27th March
Killarney, Co Kerry Sheahan & Collins Construction Limited has been appointed as the main contractor for a €6.3m residential development on Monsignor O’Flaherty Road in Killarney. Works will begin next month on developer IPH Killarney Holdings’s scheme, which comprises 22 two-bedroom apartments and 11 one-bedroom apartments in a six-storey apartment building and all ancillary site development works. It will have communal bicycle parking, car parking, bin stores and a landscaped courtyard/amenity area. The Business Post, 27th March
Dublin, Ireland Dublin City Council has approved plans for the first phase of construction at the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Poolbeg. A consortium of RGRE, Lioncor Developments and Oaktree Capital Management lodged planning permission for 570 units at the site in July last year, kick-starting the redevelopment of more than 84 acres of land near the city centre. In its decision, the council attached several conditions to the planning permission. Developer Johnny Ronan and Oaktree Capital bought an 80% stake in the lands in 2020 for c. €200m with Nama retaining a 20% stake. The site consists of the 26.4-acre IGB lands, 11.4 acres on the adjoining Fabrizia lands and 45 acres of land owned by Dublin Port. The Business Post, 25th March
Clongriffin, Dublin 13 Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore has beaten rival bidders to buy a 27-acre site with planning permission for more than 1,800 homes in Clongriffin in Dublin. Property sources say the developer has agreed to pay more than €40m – less than the €50m asking price – for the land, which was owned by Gannon Properties. The site comes with planning permission for 1,823 homes, a 209-bedroom hotel and c. 247,570 sq. ft. of commercial space. Nearly 2,000 homes have already been built in the area. An attraction for bidders was the hefty investment that has already gone into road and water infrastructure surrounding the land. The Sunday Times, 27th March
OTHER
Hibernia Reit has received a takeover offer that values it at more than €1bn from Benedict Real Estate Bidco. Bidco is a subsidiary of one of Canadian giant Brookfield Asset Management’s real estate private funds. Brookfield is one of the world’s largest owners and operators of property with more than €227bn of property assets globally, and an office portfolio of c. 200m sq. ft. worldwide. Bidco is a newly incorporated Irish company established for the purpose of undertaking the acquisition. The offer has been unanimously recommended by the Hibernia Reit board, pursuant to which Bidco will acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Hibernia Reit. Under the terms of the acquisition, Hibernia Reit shareholders would be entitled to receive €1.60 per share and a dividend of 3.4 cent per share. The acquisition, including the dividend, values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Hibernia Reit at c. €1.089bn on a fully diluted basis. The company is currently valued at c. €781m in the market. The offer, excluding the dividend, represents a 35.6% premium to Hibernia Reit’s closing price of €1.180 on Thursday. The acquisition, including the dividend, represents a 33.9% premium to Hibernia Reit’s volume weighted average share price of c. €1.221 over the three month period ending on Thursday. The Irish Times, 25th March
Mortgage Rules, Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland told the European Commission that a common EU rulebook could threaten “the effectiveness or legitimacy” of efforts by member states such as Ireland to protect their banks and homeowners from taking on too much debt. The Central Bank is undertaking a review of the mortgage rules it introduced in 2015, which prevent most homeowners from borrowing more than 3.5 times their gross incomes. It urged the commission, however, to ensure that alternative lenders are included in any EU-wide mortgage rulebook in the same way as banks. It said that non-bank lenders’ share of lending had risen from just 1% in 2017 to more than 12% by last year. The Sunday Times, 27th March
MyHome and Daft Quarterly Reports Two quarterly reports, one each from MyHome.ie and Daft.ie, suggest asking prices accelerated again in the first quarter of 2022 as the stock of homes available for sale slumped to a new record low. MyHome said annual asking-price inflation was now running at 12.3%. This put the median or typical asking price for a home nationally at €295k, and at €385k in Dublin. MyHome said the number of available properties for sale on its website fell to a record low of 11,200 in March, down from a pre-pandemic level of 19,000. It said impaired supply and robust demand meant double-digit inflation is likely until at least mid-2022.
Daft, meanwhile, said house asking prices indicated the average listed price nationwide in the first quarter of 2022 was €299.1k, up 8.4% on the same period in 2021 and just 19% below the Celtic Tiger peak, while noting increases remain smaller in urban areas, compared to rural. Just 10,000 homes were listed for sale on its website as of March 1st, an all-time low. The Irish Times, 28th March
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