2nd November (Issue 321)
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
Corrib Shopping Centre, Galway has been put on the market by joint agents Cushman & Wakefield and Colliers with a guide price in excess of €18.5m. Anchored by Marks & Spencer and Sports Direct, which recently took a new 10-year lease on the former Debenhams anchor unit occupying more than 65,000 sq. ft., Corrib Shopping Centre is also home to Carraig Donn, Peter Mark, Walsh’s Pharmacy and Meteor. The sale consists of the freehold interest in the entire shopping centre and a long leasehold interest in the multi-storey car park for which a profit share structure is in effect. The scheme, which comprises c. 100,000 sq. ft. of lettable retail space, fronts on to Eyre Street, Bóthar Irwin and Bóthar na mBan, providing extensive street frontage of more than 656 ft. to the southwest, southeast and northeast. Neighbouring occupiers in the immediate vicinity include TK Maxx, Dunnes Stores and Galway City Council. Corrib Shopping Centre has a current occupancy rate of more than 99%, with just one vacant unit and a weighted average unexpired lease term of 6.7 years to break option and 6.79 years to expiry. With a total passing rent of €1.71m a year, this reflects a net initial yield of 8.41%. The Irish Times, 27th October
City Centre, Carlow Quinn Agnew has launched a prime town centre investment in Carlow guiding in excess of €1.75m. The property comprises three retail units, together with the rear car park at Kennedy Avenue, and benefits from a strong tenant profile with McDonald’s, Mr. Price and Kevin Kelly Pharmacy. The properties are held on long-term leases with a current income of €165k pa. There is reversionary potential from the outstanding rent review on the pharmacy. According to the selling agent, the rent would equate to a net initial yield of 8.5% and following the rent review the reversionary yield could exceed 9.5%. The combined floor areas of the units totals c. 19,660 sq. ft. while the car park extends to 0.12 hectares. The Irish Independent, 28th October
MIXED USE
Athlone, Co Westmeath Commercial agent TWM has brought the former An Post mail distribution unit to market at Coosan in Athlone, Co Westmeath for which it is guiding €1.2m. The property is accessed via the New Two Mile Road which runs along its northern boundary and is located 2km north of the town of Athlone. The property comprises two lots. One is a single-storey distribution unit which benefits from 12 dock levellers and extends to c. 26,900 sq. ft. on a 4.1-acre site and is guiding €830k. The second lot comprises an adjacent greenfield site that extends to c. 3.1-acres and is guiding €370k. The asset and site provide flexibility for either development or occupation. The Business Post, 31st October
Newbridge, Co Kildare A proposal to build a Primark distribution centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare has been granted planning permission. The scheme will have a cumulative gross floor area of 694,810 sq. ft., comprising a distribution warehouse, office accommodation and ancillary buildings. It will be built on a 15.42 hectare site in Great Connell. Barola Capital DAC, the property investment unit of the fashion retailer, will invest €43m for the base construction and Primark will spend a further €75m on the internal fit-out and equipment, according to documents attached with the application submitted to Kildare County Council. React News, 28th October
Clonshaugh, Dublin Colliers Properties LLC applied for planning permission to Dublin City Council on behalf of Amazon Data Services Ireland Ltd to put two data centres — of 138,585 sq. ft. and 15,661 sq. ft. — on a 3.75-hectare brownfield site in an IDA business park in Clonshaugh. The number of data centres in Ireland is now under increased scrutiny after a report by Eirgrid, the state-owned electric power transmission operator, stated that they could account for c. a quarter of all energy demand by 2030, up from 11% today. An energy report, which was submitted with the Amazon plans, said that the proposed centres would consume c. “589 GWh annually”, producing c. 48,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year. Amazon has promised to offset their power consumption with three wind farms in Donegal, Galway and Cork. The Sunday Times, 31st October
Dublin, Ireland Latest figures by Cushman & Wakefield show that the vacancy rate in the industrial and logistics market fell to just 6% in the third quarter in Dublin, a 20-year low, as Covid-19 and Brexit continues to drive structural demand changes. Overall, a total of 2,456,324 sq. ft. of space was transacted in the sector in the year to date. This includes space taken up and also pre-let activity of units in the development pipeline. This is up substantially on 2020, when 1,901,444 sq. ft. was transacted during the same period. Looking ahead, Cushman & Wakefield expects to see more pre-let activity as availability levels within the market have grown increasingly tight. Just 2,783,816 sq. ft. was available as of the end of September, an annual decrease of c. 20%. Of this, just 20% is grade A, while there are only four grade A units greater than 53,820 sq. ft. available. To further emphasise the lack of available space, the report notes that the current figure sits below the long-run annual average for take-up of 3,724,313 sq. ft. However, an uptick in new space coming to the market is also expected, with a total of 2,265,265 sq. ft. of space under construction at the end of the third quarter of 2021, which is due to be delivered over the next 15 months. According to the report, of this c. 1,040,332 sq. ft. is already pre-let, however it is expected that further pre-lets will occur as these units progress towards completion. The Irish Times, 27th October
OFFICE
Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin City Centre Colliers has launched the sale of 12 and 13 Fitzwilliam Place, together with their original mews buildings, nos. 12 and 13 Lad Lane, and 15 car parking spaces. The guide price of €6.5 million equates to a capital value of €565 per sq. ft. The entire property portfolio comes to 11,490 sq. ft. in total and is producing rental income of €286k a year, with “excellent rental growth potential” according to the agent. The properties are also available separately. The two buildings inter-connect at lower ground floor level and extend to 4,737 sq. ft. and 4,371 sq. ft. respectively. No. 12 Fitzwilliam Place is occupied in its entirety by law firm Reddy Charlton under a new 10-year lease from January 1st 2021, at an annual rent of €168k, with tenant break option at the expiry of the fifth year. Reddy Charlton also occupies the basement of no. 13 on a separate lease that run’s co-terminus with No. 12 at an annual rent of €12k. No. 12 Lad Lane is let to Iput on a short-term letting that expires in September 2022 at an annual rent of €32.5k a year. No. 13 Fitzwilliam Place is part let / part vacant. It is laid out as office accommodation from hall floor to the second floor with a spacious three-bedroom apartment on the third floor. Enright Construction and Fuels for Ireland occupy the hall floor and part of the second floor on short term letting agreements. The total combined passing rent is €43.8k a year. No. 13 Lad Lane is let to Iput until December 2023 at an annual rent of €30k. The Irish Times, 27th October
Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim Carrick Business Campus in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, is being brought to the market by agent Savills with a €6.6m guide price and comprises 112,612 sq. ft. of offices. Consumer credit business Avant Money recently signed new lease terms for over 22,490 sq. ft. of its space. This leaves 90,122 sq. ft. available, which would allow purchasers to target firms seeking office space from 5,000 sq. ft. upwards. Serviced office provider Digital Office Centre Group is selling the property, which it acquired in 2016. Credit card firm MBNA had previously occupied the campus. The Irish Independent, 28th October
Baldonnell Business Park, Dublin 22 Savills has brought to the market a fully-fitted office unit in Baldonnell Business Park, Dublin 22, which is being offered for €1.8m. The Baldonnell investment is known as Landscape House, a semi-detached building extending to 15,220 sq. ft. over two storeys and comes with 28 car spaces. It is let to DPS Engineering and Construction Ltd, a global consulting, engineering and construction management company, serving high-tech industries around the world. The lease is for a term of 10 years with a five-year break option at an annual rent of €180k which equates to a net initial yield of 9.09%. Fronting onto the N7 Naas Road, Baldonnell Business Park is 15km southwest of Dublin city centre and just 6.5km from Junction 9 on the M50. The Irish Independent, 28th October
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
Copley Hall, Cork A portfolio of 10 apartments in Cork city centre is being offered for sale by Lisney in a single lot with a sale guide price of €2.65m. The 10 apartments in Copley Hall are part of four-storey block of 32 apartments. The portfolio comprises seven two-bedroom apartments ranging in size from c. 670 sq. ft. to c. 990 sq. ft. and three one-bedroom apartments of c. 495 sq. ft. each. Six of the apartments are on the top floor, with three on the third floor and one on the second floor. The fully furnished apartments provide a high standard of accommodation and there is lift access to all floors. The apartments are fully occupied with the exception of one apartment which has been left vacant to facilitate viewings. There are eight basement car spaces included in the sale. The actual total rental income is c. €178k pa, with potential for rental growth. The guide price offers an investor a net initial yield of 6.45% after standard acquisition costs. The most recent sale of an individual apartment in Copley Hall as recorded by the Residential Property Price Register is the sale of No. 20, a third floor two bed apartment which sold for €283k in September 2021. The Business Post, 31st October
Castleconnell, Co Limerick A 37.9-acre development site at Coolbawn in Castleconnell, Co Limerick, which may have potential for 25 houses, is being auctioned by BidX1 with a €1m guide price. It was part of a site which had planning permission for 69 dwellings, of which 31 were built and sold. According to the auctioneer, a third party is in possession of a portion of the property and “vacant possession of this portion of the property in sale may not be furnished on closing”. However, the development contributions have been paid in full. The Business Post, 31st October
Tallaght, South Dublin Louis Fitzgerald, the country’s biggest pub owner, is looking to build apartments on the site of one of his Dublin pubs. Fitzgerald, who owns more than 12 acres beside the site of his Old Mill pub in Tallaght, has asked South Dublin county council to zone c. four acres for residential. He wants to build apartments on the site on Bohernabreena Road. The Sunday Times, 31st October
OTHER
Landsec acquires U+I Listed property giant Landsec has made a bid to acquire U+I for £190m, in an all-cash deal which equates to 149p per share and a 9% discount on the net asset value of the national developer. The deal has been accepted by both boards of directors, and U+I is set to unanimously recommend the sale to its shareholders. The offer price represents a 73% premium on Friday’s closing price of 86p per share and a 70% premium over the average price of the past three months. Landsec’s primary interest in acquiring U+I is focused on acquiring its, potentially vast, regeneration portfolio. The Core Regeneration assets segment (currently 22% of the total U+I portfolio) comprises five major schemes which are mostly public-private partnerships to build on publicly-owned land. These five major schemes have a significant estimated gross development value of £6bn. This acquisition aligns with the objectives Landsec outlined in October 2020 to recycle investment to drive growth and generate higher returns, including through urban opportunities in London and other major regional cities. The U+I acquisition is noted by management as accelerating that strategy, adding an attractive pipeline of mixed-use urban development opportunities along with complementary skills and expertise. React News, 1st November
CBRE Bi-Monthly Report According to a report by CBRE, the market has stabilised and there has been a significant uptick in transactional activity underway in all sectors, both on and off market, since the summer, with the volume of activity in the second half of 2021 in marked contrast to H1. In fact, Q3 was stronger than the two previous quarters combined in most sectors of the market. The ability of investors and occupiers to travel to undertake property inspections since restrictions were lifted has been transformative for the Irish commercial property market. The months of September and October have been phenomenally busy, although negotiations are proving overly protracted in many sectors with transactions taking several months to complete in some cases. The extent of activity underway is therefore not fully appreciated due to the length of time it is taking to translate into completed transactions. The Irish commercial property market is now firmly in growth mode, having achieved a total return of +2.6% in the year-to-date, according to the latest MSCI Irish Property Index. CBRE Bi-Monthly Report, 1st November
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