2nd September (Issue 512)
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.
HOSPITALITY
Dungloe Bay, Co. Donegal The Waterfront Hotel, a four-star, 65-bedroom hotel on the west coast of Donegal, is up for sale for €4.9m through Savills and TDL Horizons. The hotel has 49 newly refurbished en-suite bedrooms and 16 suites, which will have to be refurbished by the new owners. The site also features a function room, a gym, and extensive grounds with parking and a playground. Dungloe, within the Gaeltacht region, is 13km from Donegal Airport. The hotel was previously known as the Óstán na Rossan, when it was bought by Chicago-based businessman Kevin Boyle in 2015. The Business Post, 27th August
Aston Quay, Dublin 2 Willie Aherne, owner of the Palace Bar on Fleet Street, has bought Fitzgerald’s Bar on Aston Quay. Aherne bought the Victorian-style bar, which overlooks O’Connell Bridge, for an undisclosed sum. The pub was put on the market by Lisney in February with a guide price of more than €2.5m. The four-storey over-basement premises extends to approx. 5,500 sq. ft, including a lounge bar and public bar at ground-floor level serviced by kitchen facilities. The property was sold by Lennie Fitzgerald who ran the bar since the early 2000s, although the business has been trading since the 1880s. The Business Post, 26th August
Aughrim, Co. Wicklow Two of the founders of the BrookLodge & Macreddin Village resort in Wicklow are set to check out, as hoteliers Ray Byrne and Sheila O’Riordan buy into the business. Brothers Bernard, Evan and Eoin Doyle put the spa hotel and wedding venue on the market in September last year through JLL with an asking price of €17.5m. The deal will see Eoin Doyle retain part ownership of the hotel, with Byrne and O’Riordan coming on as co-owners through a new entity, Wicklow Hotel Opportunities. Byrne owns Wineport Lodge in Glasson, Co Westmeath, and is already a business partner of Eoin Doyle. BrookLodge is an 86-room, four-star hotel on 16 acres. Macreddin village has a pub, café, Italian restaurant and Macreddin chapel. The Sunday Times, 31st August
Drury Street, Dublin 2 Balrath Investments Unlimited has received planning permission for a 273-bed city centre tourist hostel despite local business objections. Maryland House sits in the city’s South William entertainment quarter on Drury Street. It was previously reported that it was sold for over €10m in the early 2020s. Dublin City Council has now given the green light for the 44-bedroom hotel which will have capacity for 273 bedspaces. The council also gave permission for a new restaurant and basement bar in the building. The Currency, 1st September
RETAIL
Dawson Street, Dublin 2 54 Dawson Street is guiding €2.85m through Colliers. The 4,882 sq. ft four-storey over-basement property is fully let and generating €189,650 in annual rental income from four tenancies. It has a WAULT of 2.46 years to break and 7.82 years to expiry. The ground floor and basement level are let to Carebrook Partnership Ltd, trading as Pret A Manger, on a 15-year lease commencing February 2022, at €110,000 pa, with a tenant-break option in February 2029. The first floor is occupied by Fusion Recruitment on a five-year lease commencing July 2021 at €27,000 pa. The second floor is let to Paulson Management Ireland Limited with annual mutual-break options at €27,000 pa. The third floor is home to Deighton Infrastructure Management Limited on a five-year lease commencing March 2024 at €25,650 pa, with a tenant-break option in March 2027. The Irish Times, 27th August
MIXED-USE
O’Connell Street, Dublin 1 Colliers is guiding €3.1m for 30-31 Lower O’Connell Street. The property, a four-storey over-basement building of 8,617 sq. ft comes for sale fully let to two tenants and is generating overall annual rental income of €270,000 (7.67% NIY). The property sits three doors down from the redeveloped Clerys Quarter and almost directly opposite the GPO. The ground floor and basement, comprising a total floor area of 5,598 sq. ft, is let to Mountain Warehouse on a 10-year lease commencing September 2019, at a rent of €215,000 pa with a tenant break option in May 2027. The upper floors, which extend to approx. 3,019 sq. ft over three floors, are in office use and fully let to Element Pictures, on a 20-year lease commencing November 2018, at a rent of €55,000 pa, with a tenant break option in October 2028. The property has a WAULT of approx. 2.07 years to break and 5.92 years to expiry. The Irish Times, 27th August
OFFICE
IFSC, Dublin 1 JLL is guiding €24m for Macken House on Mayor Street Upper. The property, which is owned and managed by Tetrarch ICAV on behalf of the ESB Pension Fund, comprises a six-storey building of 51,347 sq. ft with 42 basement car-parking spaces. The first to fifth floors comprise office accommodation and are let to Italian luxury jewellery brand, Bulgari, and FM104 owner, the Wireless Group. The ground floor includes an office unit of 15,635 sq. ft let to Virgin Media, along with two retail units with a total combined space of 3,717 sq. ft. The retail space is fully leased to Insomnia and Mulligans Chemist. The three office leases account for almost 90% of the total passing rent of €2m. Following various regears, Macken House now provides a WAULT of 5.7 years to earliest break. The guide price of €24.5m reflects an initial yield of approx. 7.5% and a capital value of approx. €477 psf. The Irish Times, 27th August
IFSC, Dublin 1 Susquehanna International Group is set to purchase La Touche House. The company is already the owner-occupier of the office block next door, having purchased the former AIB treasury building for close to €35m in 2013. La Touche House was placed on the market by Axa Investment Manager Alts in May for just over €25m with Susquehanna believed to be paying close to the asking price. The approx. 110,000 sq. ft property was one of the first buildings to be completed in the IFSC, in 1993, and was once the headquarters of Bank of Ireland, which paid IR£32m for the offices as a new build. The seven-storey office is in need of refurbishment. Axa bought the building for nearly €84m in 2020, with BCP Capital acting as its local partner. A number of potential buyers are thought to have run the rule over the building, including one party that considered turning it into a hotel. The Sunday Times, 31st August
Residential/Development
Dublin Residential Portfolio The Georgian Collection, a portfolio of 13 residential rental properties, is being offered to the market by Savills guiding €30m. The portfolio is fully let and generating a total of €2.145m in annual rental income (6% NIY). It comprises 91 dwellings consisting of a mix of studio, one-bed, two-bed, three-bed and four-bed units located in areas such as Clontarf, Glasnevin, Drumcondra, Phibsborough and Stoneybatter. Numbers 25 and 27 North Circular Road in Dublin 7, two adjoining period houses close to the entrance to the Phoenix Park, comprise a total of 16 residential units. These produce an annual rent roll of €420,060, or an average of €2,188 per unit per month. In terms of their sustainability, the units carry a mix of A and B BER ratings. The Irish Times, 27th August
The Liberties, Dublin 8 German asset manager MEAG has agreed to acquire the 18 Newmarket Square BTR project for close to €80m, according to Green Street News. MEAG, which is the asset manager for reinsurance giant Munich Re, is in exclusive talks to acquire the asset from the development joint venture of Revelate Capital and Valpre Capital. The German investor is advancing the deal for one of the few BTR complexes to come to market in Dublin this year, which had been expected to attract widespread investor interest, and the purchase price reflects a NIY in the region of 5%. Newmarket Square totals 134 apartments and includes 79 one-bed units, 46 two-bed homes, seven three-bed homes and two studios. The asset will be a nearly zero-energy building. CBRE is advising Revelate Capital and Valpre Capital. Bisnow, 1st September
Dungarvan, Co. Waterford A large scale development of 155 residences and a creche have been given the green light in Dungarvan, following a decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála, who upheld a decision by Waterford City and County Council granting permission to S&K Carey Ltd for the project. The site extends to over 10 acres and is located at Duckspool to the northeast of Dungarvan town centre. The development consists of detached, semi-detached, and terraced houses, along with 42 apartments in four three-storey apartment blocks. It was given the green light by Waterford planners on April 16th, subject to conditions. The site is accessed via a link road between the N25 Waterford to Cork road and the R675 Clonea road between Abbeyside and Clonea. The Irish Independent, 29th August
Waterford/Kilkenny Border Permission has been granted for a new Dunnes Stores-led project at Ross Road, Ferrybank, on the northern outskirts of Waterford City. Better Value Unlimited Company applied to Kilkenny County Council on July 1st for planning permission, which is to be constructed in Ferrybank Shopping Centre. The development consists of the change of use and amalgamation of the centre’s unoccupied car showroom and adjacent fire service corridor. The reconfigured anchor unit will have 32,000 sq. ft of convenience floorspace. The total gross floor area of the anchor unit will be over 81,000 sq. ft, including basement and ground floor levels. The first floor of the retail anchor unit, approved for the sale of comparison goods, will be repurposed into a separate leisure unit measuring approx. 34,000 sq. ft, marking a change of use from retail to leisure use. The Irish Independent, 28th August
Boreenmanna Road, Cork City A former Cork private school that sold for just over €2m in May as a development site is being offered on a short, three-year span. The former Rockboro School, pitched as being ideal as an educational facility, language school, a training base or other similar use given its layout, currently in 14 classrooms. It is understood the undisclosed buyer is a developer who will seek planning permission for a medium/high density residential development on the approx. 1.55 acre one-time quarry site. ERA Downey McCarthy are quoting a rent of €15 psf/€145,000 pa. It comprises a solid main building of 7,400 sq. ft, with adjacent 2,230 sq. ft prefab structure. It is likely the new owner will seek permission to develop 40 or more units, in several blocks, subject to planning approval. The former school was sold by BidX1 with a guide price of €1.2m, finally selling for €2.01m. The Examiner, 28th August
Kinsale Road, Cork City Dairygold has sold its Creamfields development property in Cork to Cairn Homes for €25.6m. The sale of the site comes after Dairygold received full planning permission for the development of 606 residential units and multiple commercial units in 2022. According to the co-operative, Cairn Homes is set to commence work on the development in Q4 2025, and it’s expected that it could take three years to complete. Dairygold had already partnered with Cairn Homes to deliver the residential element of the development prior to the sale, while both parties collaborated with Respond to deliver social and cost rental units. When completed, the development will be comprised of 225 social and 381 cost-rental apartments on the site, which sits opposite Musgrave Park. The Business Post, 26th August
Housing Commencements The average number of housing commencements across Ireland has been steadily declining since the end of last year. Department of Housing data published by the Central Statistics Office has shown that the number of residential starts recorded between January and July were down 80% on the same period in 2024, with just 7,384 commencements over the seven months this year, compared to 36,320 in 2024. The most significant decline was recorded in April, with 1,027 commencements, down 95% on the 18,700 starts in the same month a year prior. March was also a weak month with an 85% drop in commencements year on year, followed by February, when the figures were down 73%. The Business Post, 1st September
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