3rd December (Issue 225)
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.
RESIDENTIAL
Dundrum, Dublin 16 The Irish Times understands that German fund, Realis has purchased 90 high-end apartments at Glenveagh Properties’ Herbert Hill scheme next to Dundrum Town Centre in south Dublin for €90 million. Previously, the Irish Times had revealed that the scheme was being offered for sale with the option for the purchaser of entering into an agreement with Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council on the long-term lease of all 90 apartments for use as social housing. The Herbert Hill scheme represents the second investment by Realis in the Irish property market to date. Last month, the company agreed the forward purchase of 56 private rented sector apartments that Marlet Property Group is in the process of delivering at its Ropemaker Place scheme in Dublin’s south docklands. The Irish Times, 30th November
Maynooth, Co Kildare Urbeo, which is backed by US investor Starwood Capital, has purchased 150 units comprising apartments, duplexes and houses which have yet to be completed in Maynooth, Co Kildare for €53.5 million from Cairn Homes (€356.6k per unit). Cairn’s Mariavilla development consists of two areas under construction totalling 380 properties. The 150 properties being bought by Urbeo form part of the development designed for the private rental sector. The remaining 230 homes will be bought by private tenants. The Irish Times, 28th November
MIXED-USE
Castleknock, Dublin 15 Hooke & MacDonald have brought four properties to the market that have become available for sale or to let in the Phoenix Park Racecourse development in Castleknock. The units are in shell-and-core condition and are ready for occupier fit-out as a restaurant/cafe, two retail units and a creche. The properties range in size from 1,076 sq.ft. to 2,421 sq.ft. and are being offered to the market at guide prices of between €300,000 and €410,000. The agent is also quoting rents ranging from €27,000 to €37,000 per annum for the units on long-term leases. The wider scheme comprises c.700 homes, with provision for an additional 1,300 residential units over the coming years. The Irish Times, 28th November
OFFICE
Elmpark Green, Dublin 4 German investment fund, Quadoro Doric, has paid c.€53 million for the Irish headquarters of Allianz at Elmpark Green in Dublin 4. The sale of Allianz House comes just eight weeks after it was brought to the market on behalf of owners Aberdeen Standard (formerly Standard Life) by agent TWM at a guide price of €50 million. Allianz House is an eight-storey office building extending to 86,000 sq.ft (€616 psf). The property is fully let to Allianz on a 31-year full repairing and insuring (FRI) lease from January 2008 with a tenant break option in December 2033. The annual rent is €2.9 million (gross yield 5.47%) with five-yearly rent reviews from 2019 in line with the consumer price index (CPI). The Irish Times, 28th November
Dublin Landings Nama has secured just over €42 million from the €205 million sale by Ballymore and its Singapore-headquartered partners, Oxley, of two blocks at Dublin Landings. In a statement to the Singapore stock exchange Oxley confirmed that its subsidiary Oxley Docklands Quay Two, had completed the deal for the buildings at final sales prices of €98.6 million and €106.5 million respectively. Oxley said it had received 79.5% of the overall €205,100,000 sale proceeds while Nama subsidiary, National Asset North Quays DAC, had received the remaining 20.5% balance. The €205 million paid by the Central Bank for the properties does not include VAT. The Irish Times, 28th November
Hatch Street, Dublin 2 The Irish Times understands that KPMG has entered into a 10-year lease for 20,000 sq.ft. of space distributed across the first and second floors at Two Park Place. The building forms part of the wider Park Place office scheme that Clancourt is developing on a site overlooking the Iveagh Gardens on Hatch Street. It is understood KPMG has agreed to pay a rent in the region of €60 psf. Joint agents CBRE and Knight Frank are marketing the remaining 6,500 sq.ft. of ground-floor accommodation at a rent of €65 psf and €4,500 per car parking space. The office space comes with the benefit of a tenant fit-out, which represents a significant saving in capital expenditure for the incoming occupier. The Irish Times, 27th November
Charlemont Street, Dublin 2 Amazon has signed a lease on 170,000 sq.ft. of office space currently being developed by the McGarrell Reilly Group as part of its Charlemont Street Regeneration Project in Dublin city centre. The decision to secure the Charlemont Square offices will give Amazon the capacity to increase its existing Dublin-based workforce by an additional 1,700 workers. Amazon already employs more than 2,200 people in the capital between its European headquarters in the Shannon Building on Burlington Road and other locations. McGarrell Reilly’s Charlemont Square development is part of a wider €85 million mixed-use scheme it is currently progressing on Charlemont Street as part of a partnership it entered into with Dublin City Council. Phase one of the project saw the delivery last September of 79 social housing units on the site along with a range of community facilities. The scheme also includes 184 private residential units – a mix of luxury one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments The Irish Independent, 30th November
Plassey, Co Limerick Fine Grain Property, the Irish-owned operator of business park offices, has completed construction of Hawthorn House, a 55,000 sq.ft., green office building in Plassey, Limerick, at a cost of more than €12 million. The four-storey building has the capacity to accommodate up to 500 employees. Joint agents Power Property Group and Cushman and Wakefield are quoting a rent of €25.50 psf. In January last year, the firm acquired the site for Hawthorn House as part of a €25 million deal which included three other office buildings: Hamilton House, Hamilton House 2 and Clive House, totalling c.140,000 sq.ft. of workspace in the Plassey Campus of the National Technology Park. These three buildings are 100% occupied. The Irish Independent, 28th November
Horgan’s Quay, Cork City Workspace provider Spaces is set to open its first co-working offices and meeting rooms at Horgan’s Quay in Cork city centre. On completion of the build next summer, the firm will occupy almost 30,000 sq.ft. over two floors in Block 1, one of three blocks in this new, €160 million docklands development building, built out of the original site’s limestone foundations on the city’s northern docks. Overall, the scheme includes office space, new apartments, a 120-bed hotel, shops and restaurant outlets. The Sunday Business Post, 1st December
Ship Street, Dublin 8 Agent CBRE is quoting a rent of €55 psf for space at a new office scheme now under construction on a site immediately adjacent to Dublin Castle. Upon completion at the end of 2021, One Le Pole Square on Ship Street will comprise of 110,341 sq.ft. of grade A office space distributed across a six-storey building. Designed by Reddy Architecture & Urbanism on behalf of Luxor Developments, the new offices will meet near zero energy building standards specification and boast A2 energy efficiency. The scheme will also include a ground-floor cafe, private rooftop terraces, 170 bike spaces and 48 car-parking spaces. The Irish Times, 27th November
HOTEL
Kilmainham, Dublin 8 French real estate group, Covivio, has paid c.€45 million to acquire the four-star Hilton Dublin-Kilmainham hotel under a structured arrangement with its current owners, the Tifco group. While the transaction will see Covivio secure the freehold interest of the 120-bedroom hotel, the Irish Times understands that Tifco will continue to be involved on foot of what market sources described as a sale-and-manage back agreement. The Irish Times, 27th November
Smithfield, Dublin 7 The Dublin Loft Company is understood to have engaged London-based Eastdil Secured to find a buyer for the 146-room Hendrick Hotel in Smithfield with a guide price of c.€50 million. Located on Hendrick Street, a small street within close proximity to Smithfield Square, the hotel is a six-storey property and is Dublin’s first street art hotel. The Irish Times understands that the prospective purchasers of the Smithfield property may also be given the option to acquire another 163-bedroom hotel which the Dublin Loft Company is in the process of developing on the site of the landmark Big Tree pub on Dorset Street. The Irish Times, 27th November
LAND
Clonburris, West Dublin Cairn Homes has purchased 97 acres of land within the Clonburris strategic development zone (SDZ) for €21.5 million (€221.6k per acre). The deal was done through two separate transactions from Nama and O’Callaghan Properties. Cairn already owns an adjacent 174 acres of development land within the SDZ and this deal means its total holding in the area represents 44% of the overall SDZ. The company will build more than 5,000 homes in the area together with retail, commercial and employment space. The Irish Times, 28th November
OTHER
Dublin Office Market A Knight Frank report on the Dublin Office Market has found that the last six months of take-up were the weakest since 2012, but the previous six-month period was the strongest on record ever. 1.9 million sq.ft. is due to be delivered in 2019 which is approximately in-line with the preceding two years when 2 million sq.ft. was completed. 360,000 sq.ft. of office accommodation accounting to €412.9 million worth of office investment transactions took place in Q3, the majority of which was accounted for by the sales of Five Hanover Quay and Nova Atria. Knight Frank Q3 Report
A Cushman & Wakefield report on the “Main Streets Across the World” comprising 448 locations across 68 global markets has found that Grafton Street’s rental rate of $401 psf per year sees it hold on to 13th position in the global rankings of the most expensive streets, and seventh place in Europe. Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay has retained its title as the world’s most expensive shopping street, with rents to locate a store coming in at $2,745 psf per year. New York’s Upper Fifth Avenue takes second place for the second year running, with a prime rental rate of $2,250 psf. The Irish Times, 27th November
The development pipeline of new nursing home bed spaces fell in the first 10 months of this year despite growing demand for residential care. According to the latest report from research body Construction Information Services (CIS) the volume of projects and bed spaces under construction in the nursing home sector fell compared to the same period of 2018. There were only 335 bedrooms under construction or c.one-third of the 1,140 bedrooms being built in 2018. However, there has been an increase in the volume of projects seeking planning approval. The Irish Independent, 28th November
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