5th July (Issue 354)
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
Sandyford, Dublin 18 The Trintech Building in the South County Business Park development in Dublin 18 has secured three new tenants. Renewable energy company Codling Wind Park, printing company MemJet and aircraft leasing company Alliance Aviation have all agreed to new leases within the building ranging from 2,400 sq. ft. to 5,500 sq. ft. on lease terms from five to 10 years. Developed in the early 2000s, the Trintech Building comes to the letting market in walk-in condition following the recent completion of refurbishment works to its vacant space. The last-remaining office suites available to lease comprise the first floor extending to 5,394 sq. ft. and second floor extending to 2,129 sq. ft. The Irish Times, 29th June
Talbot Street, Dublin 1 French investor Sofidy has purchased Independent House for more than €34m from an investment vehicle owned by Chartered Land. Knight Frank, selling agents for Independent House, had set a €34m guide for the property in February this year, which was €5m more than the €29m that had been sought two years earlier in March 2020. In the meantime, the vendor secured a rent increase of c. €160k a year as well as a new lease with Mediahuis Ireland Limited. The value of the property was also boosted by extending the lease to 2032 and including inflation-linked rent increases. Mediahuis is also undertaking a €4m upgrade of its offices that will significantly enhance the quality of its accommodation. Independent House extends to 55,150 sq. ft. over four floors and comes with a basement car park with 26 spaces. Its office space extends to 44,817 sq. ft. A SuperValu retail store occupies 9,644 sq. ft. on the ground floor on a 25-year lease from December 2004. The Irish Independent, 30th June
Penrose Quay, Cork Office deals and development continue to roll out in Cork City and suburbs, instanced by the news that a 250,000 sq. ft. development on the north quays has moved to fully let status. Confirmation of the final letting of space at the north quays Penrose Dock development on Penrose Quay comes this week from developers JCD Group, which notes that “when all occupiers are in place before the end of the year, there will be 30 companies with capacity for over 2,200 employees”. Meanwhile, agreements have been signed for the last available space at the €130m 250,000 sq. ft. Penrose Dock development, but the identity of the occupier hasn’t yet been revealed by JCD Group, pending a formal announcement. The new arrival will join other recent tenants such as Green Rebel, EIH2, Action Zero, and BDO accountants, while existing occupier Qualcomm has also taken additional space there. Others in the Penrose Dock mix of technology, life sciences, green energy, and professional services firms include Varonis, Grant Thornton, Cadence, Cloudera, Morgan McKinley, Matheson, and Ibec. The Irish Examiner, 30th June
INDUSTRIAL / LOGISTICS
North City Business Park, Dublin Bio-Techne and the Office of Public Works (OPW) have taken occupation of two newly developed warehouse units totalling 45,000 sq. ft. at Rohan Holdings’ North City Business Park development facing on to the M50 motorway at Junction 5. Other occupiers at the scheme include Harvey Norman, BWG and Hilti. Rohan is currently at the midpoint in constructing the next unit – a 45,000 sq. ft. facility divided into semi-detached units of 20,000 sq. ft. and 25,000 sq. ft. – at the scheme, and these are available for occupation on long leases at €12.45 per sq. ft. The Irish Times, 29th June
Dublin AirPort Logistics Park, Dublin Rohan Holdings is also understood to have secured more than €17m from the forward sale of Contrail House, a new 70,000 sq. ft. warehouse and office unit it is in the process of developing at Dublin AirPort Logistics Park. The building has been acquired by Pennsylvania-headquartered pharmaceutical company, Yourway. Outside of securing the sale of Contrail House, Rohan Holdings is in the process of completing one other facility (Peregrine House – 50,000 sq. ft.) at Dublin AirPort Logistics Park, while construction of another (Goldcrest House – 60,000 sq. ft.) is expected to get under way in the coming months. The Irish Times, 29th June
Malahide Road Industrial Park, North Dublin Hibernia Reit is looking to dispose of a large, detached warehouse facility in north Dublin. Located on a site of 3.8 acres at the entrance to Malahide Road Industrial Park, the subject property is being offered for sale with vacant possession by Savills at a guide price of €8.5m. Previously occupied by Bunzl, the property extends to c. 82,882 sq. ft. including 12,378 sq. ft. of office accommodation. The property is in an area zoned under objective Z6 “Employment/Enterprise” within the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022. The property retains the same zoning under the draft Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028, which is due to be adopted later this year. Permitted uses for “Z6″ under the current and draft plans include industry (light), enterprise centre, science and technology-based industry. The Irish Times, 29th June
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Fingal Logistics Park, North Co Dublin Joint commercial agents CBRE and JP & M Doyle have brought a self-contained freehold site extending to c. 23 acres located at Fingal Logistics Park in north Co Dublin to the market. The site has a guide price of €6.44m (€280k per acre). The 23-acre site forms part of Fingal Logistics Park, an area of land zoned GE (general employment) under the current Fingal County Council Development Plan, which allows for industrial, logistics, warehousing and multiple other related uses. The Business Post, 1st July
Ballycoolin, Dublin 11 CBRE has brought a prime warehouse space within the Stadium Business Park in Ballycoolin, Dublin 11 to the market for either sale or to let. Unit 5A is a modern mid-terrace unit which extends to a total area of 15,091 sq. ft. including 2,292 sq. ft. of two storey offices. The property is available for sale with a guide price of over €3m, or to rent at a rate of €185k pa, and a three-year short-term lease will be considered. The Business Post, 1st July
Industrial Space Demand, Ireland Logistics firms, pharma companies and large retailers have snapped up almost all the new industrial space being built in Dublin. Between April and June, 89% of the 459,000 sq. ft. of new space completed in the quarter was pre-let, according to a survey by Savills. The largest deal of the quarter was Dunnes Stores’ expansion into a 78,400 sq. ft. space in Stadium Business Park in Finglas. Take-up in the market totalled 1.3m sq. ft. in the first six months of the year, despite fears of an economic slowdown, Savills said. The industrial and logistics market has been heating up due to a lack of supply, particularly for smaller units. Only one small deal was signed in the second quarter – for a unit of between 5,000 and 10,000 sq. ft. – the lowest take-up since the 2008 financial crisis. 61% of the space under construction has been pre-let or pre-sold, including to German freight firm DB Schenker, the Office of Public Works and retailer LifeStyle Sports. Dublin prime rents were at c. €10.70 per sq. ft. at the end of June. The Irish Independent, 4th July
HOSPITALITY
Bride Street, Dublin 8 Teepee Developments, the private Irish developer has secured c. €11.5m from the sale of a newly completed aparthotel on Bride Street in Dublin city centre. The Staycity Dublin Castle, as it is known, has been acquired by a fund managed by BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Managers. The property comprises 51 bedrooms and is occupied in its entirety by Staycity, a highly successful international aparthotel group under its core Staycity brand on a long-term lease with a WAULT of more than 20 years. Quite apart from its existing 51-bedroom capacity, the Chancery Lane investment came for sale with significant value-add potential and full planning permission to extend the property by one floor to include seven extra units. Planning for the development is valid until April 2024. The Irish Times, 29th June
St Kevin’s, Dublin 2 An Bord Pleanála has given permission to the Conrad hotel for plans to transform its Dublin 2 property “into a world-class five-star hotel”. The decision upholds a grant of permission by Dublin City Council for an eight-storey extension that will increase the number of hotel rooms at the Conrad at Earlsfort Terrace off St Stephen’s Green by 88 to 280. The “significant investment” also includes a two-level rooftop bar terrace and a new facade for the hotel. This will leave the Conrad property with an extra floor, bringing it to nine storeys. Archer Hotel Capital, the specialist European hotel investment vehicle that bought the Conrad for €115m in 2019, has secured the permission. The proposed development came before the appeals board after two office block owners appealed the grant of permission. The Irish Times, 29th June
HEALTHCARE
Sandyford, Dublin 18 The Beacon Hospital has acquired two sites adjacent to its current campus in Sandyford, Co Dublin, for an undisclosed sum. It plans to use the sites on 56 and 57 Blackthorn Road, comprising 2.7 acres, to expand the hospital’s clinical facilities, create a new medical research hub and house part of its existing UCD Beacon Academy. The cost of developing the sites could run to hundreds of millions of euros. The Irish Times, 4th July
RESIDENTIAL / DEVELOPMENT
Kilcock, Co Kildare Agent Coonan Property is guiding a price of €1.4m (€17.5k per acre) for 80 acres of land adjoining the Kilcock Environs development boundary on the outskirts of Kilcock, Co Kildare. The site is on the Maynooth side of the town and has 875m of road frontage along the Moyglare Road as well as ample frontage along the river Rye. The Newtownmoyaghy site will be sold by public auction at 3pm on Wednesday, July 20th, at 3pm in The Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth. The Irish Times, 29th June
Mallow, Co Cork BV Commercial has brought a substantial landholding to the market for sale on the edge of Mallow town centre in Co Cork, for which it is guiding €2m. The lands, which extend to c. 130.2 acres (c. €15k per acre), have the benefit of considerable frontage to several local access roads. 62 acres were previously zoned for residential development. However, a draft of the Cork County Development Plan 2022-2028 was released in May 2021 and outlined proposed amendments to the zoning of all the subject lands to Greenbelt. The Business Post, 1st July
Newbridge, Co Kildare Jordan Auctioneers in Newbridge, Co Kildare has brought to market a development site just south of Newbridge town centre. The lands comprise c. 23.6 acres zoned Objective H1 – “Industrial & Warehousing” within the Newbridge Local Area Plan 2013 -2021. The property is for sale by tender by 12pm on Wednesday, July 27th . Tenders should be sent to the offices of Wilkinson & Price in Naas with a guide price of excess of €4.72m (€200k per acre). The Business Post, 1st July
Carrigaline, Cork A waterfront site with full planning permission for 38 homes is on the market for €2.3m (€61k per site) in the south Cork town of Carrigaline. The sale of the Glenveagh Homes-owned land follows a successful appeal late last year by the house-builder to An Bord Pleanála, after concerns were raised that the site was located within a flood zone. The 3.14 acres site has planning permission for 20 three-bed townhouses, 14 two-bed townhouses, two one-bed own-door apartments and two two-bed duplexes. A second planning permission for the site, due to expire next year, is for 19 large detached homes (€121k per site). The Irish Examiner, 30th June
Malahide Road, Dublin 17 Real IS has bought a residential development in the Dublin metropolitan area from Gem Group. The price is understood to be close to €42m. The transaction has been made for the open-ended real estate special alternative investment fund, Modern Living. The development at Malahide Road 17 is due to complete in the fourth quarter of 2023. It will have a total lettable area of 72,000 sq. ft., comprising 93 subsidised housing units and three commercial units. A 25-year lease agreement for all the housing units has already been concluded with Dublin City Council. React News, 5th July
Social Housing Development, Ireland Sisk, Ireland’s largest building contractor, threatened to pull out of all future social and affordable housing developments before the government announced it would intervene to cover some construction cost inflation. In a letter to Darragh O’Brien, the Minister for Housing, Paul Brown, chief executive of Sisk, said the company had been “consistently realising losses” on all social housing projects to date, which was “ultimately undermining the viability” of the business. As announced in May, the government has decided it will cover 70% of the cost of construction inflation amid the rising prices of materials faced by builders of social housing and other public projects. Last January, the government announced it would include a price variation clause on new tenders, which would involve the state bearing the cost of inflation on construction projects to address the potential for significant spikes in materials. The measures did not apply to tenders for contracts prior to January of this year. The government’s latest intervention in May came after construction firms warned in March that they would need to pull out of existing public projects due to the “hyperinflation” in steel and timber costs. The Business Post, 2nd July
Old Whitechurch Road, Cork Cork GAA has applied for planning permission for more than 300 houses on 36.5 acres land it owns in Cork city to help offset debts it incurred in the €96m redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Cork GAA is seeking planning permission from An Bord Pleanála for c. 83 semi-detached houses, 118 terraced houses, 52 duplex units and 63 apartments as well as a creche under the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) for the site off the Old Whitechurch Road. It is understood that a large portion of the site has been zoned for housing for several years, with a small portion of the land zoned for industrial use, but the entire site was zoned for housing in the 2015-2021 Cork City Development Plan. The Irish Times, 1st July
Housing for Refugees, Ireland The Government has said it hopes to accommodate 2,000 Ukrainian refugees in 500 modular homes by the end of the year. There are an estimated 25,000 Ukrainians currently staying in accommodation provided by the State. In addition, there were 11,873 people residing in international protection accommodation as of last month. This compares to 7,000 at the end of 2021 and 7,000 at the end of 2020. The figures are the highest for at least 15 years. Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman said the modular units, which will be factory built and then installed on site, will be spread around the country but will be close to, or in, urban areas. He said there would be at least 20 sites, giving an average of 25 units per site. Each unit will house four people. The Minister said that the Office of Public Work plans that the first of the units would be on site in early November 2022 with the programme being completed in 2023. He said it was an ambitious but achievable time frame and that local authorities would be given “appropriate planning exemptions” to ensure speedy delivery. The Irish Times, 29th June
OTHER
CRE Investment, Ireland Investors continue to buy Irish property with c. €2bn changing hands in the second quarter of the year. This contrasts with the European market where investors are cooling and some deals are stalling. According to JLL, c. €897m worth of investments were traded in Ireland in Q2 and in addition the Canadian investor Brookfield Asset Management bought Hibernia Reit for €1.1bn, bringing the total for the quarter to €2bn. That performance was more than double the €763m worth of investments which changed hands in the first quarter. This second quarter momentum was also reflected in the number of deals with 47 compared with 31 in the first quarter. The Irish residential investment sector also performed well in Q2, accounting for 24% of the €897m worth of deals. Offices accounted for 26% and industrials 20%. In addition to the Hibernia Reit deal, another large deal saw LCN Capital Partners pay c. €100m for three redeveloped office blocks occupied by Flutter Entertainment on Belfield Office Campus, Dublin 4. The Irish Independent, 2nd July
Build Cost Inflation, Ireland Housebuilder Cairn Homes said it expects total build cost inflation for 2022 to reach up to 7% as labour and materials prices rise. That will add up to €17k to the cost of a unit, the company said. But Cairn reaffirmed its annual outlook, anticipating turnover of more than €600m from 1,500 closed new home sales and €100m operating profit. The company said it saw its strongest-ever first-half sales period, agreeing the sale of more than 750 homes for over €295m, and closing 547 new home sales. Cairn plans to announce a €20m dividend as part of its interim results announcement in September. The Irish Times, 5th July
State’s Rent Expense, Ireland The State is paying more than €115m in annual rent for office buildings and other premises throughout the country, according to new information disclosed by the Office of Public Works (OPW). The biggest bills are in Dublin where 29 leases of offices and premises each have annual rents of more than €1m. The single most expensive lease is for Miesian Plaza on Lower Baggot Street where the Department of Health is located, costing the State €8.25m in annual rent. Other multimillion rentals in the capital include the Distillers Building in Dublin 7, which has an annual bill of €7.2m; Garda offices at Harcourt Square at €6m pa; four office spaces on Bishop’s Square in Dublin 2 which together cost over €6.5m in rent each year; number 1 George’s Quay which costs €2.4m; and office space at Spencer Dock costing €2.6m. The only premises outside Dublin with an annual rental bill of over €1m is the Revenue office in Fairgreen, Galway which costs €1.1m. The most expensive rental in Limerick is for offices which cost €900k pa, while in Cork, Abbey Court House is the most expensive at €650k. The Irish Times, 29th June
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