5th October (Issue 317)

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

Glasthule, South Co Dublin Property agent Bagnall Doyle MacMahon is offering the well-known Eagle House pub in Glasthule in south Co Dublin to the market guiding at €2.8 million. The Eagle House is a substantial licensed premises which occupies a prominent corner trading position in the heart of Glasthule village. The property comprises the ground floor lounge bar which extends to c. 4,122 sq. ft. together with a fully fitted and equipped catering kitchen, customer toilets and storage areas. The first floor extends to c. 2,712 sq. ft. and is occupied by an Indian restaurant, Rasam, on a long-term lease. Outside, at the rear of the property is a car park with space for c. 24 cars. In addition, the property has redevelopment possibilities as it occupies a total site area of c. 0.13 hectares (c. 0.31 acres) including the car park behind the adjoining office block on Adelaide Road. The Business Post, 3rd October

Donegal Boardwalk Resort, Donegal A 27-villa holiday resort in Donegal has been sold for in excess of the asking price of €3.8 million. The Donegal Boardwalk Resort, situated on the Wild Atlantic Way, has been purchased by Melcorpo, a property group. Overlooking Sheephaven Bay, the resort was brought to the market in June by Bartra, and in addition to the villas comprises a fully licensed seafront bar, restaurant and function room. The property also includes 45 acres, much of which is still undeveloped. Bartra, who purchased the resort in 2017, when it was guiding €2.6 million, upgraded all 27 holiday villas, which are in turn-key condition, fully fitted and presented to a very high standard. Each villa benefits from a private deck. The Irish Times, 1st October

Molyneux Yard, Dublin 8 A site located at Molyneux Yard in Dublin 8 with full planning permission for a 244-bedroom hotel has come to market seeking €15 million in The Liberties in the heart of Dublin’s city centre. The 0.12ha (0.29 acre) site is between Temple Bar, St Stephen’s Green and St James’s Gate. The proposed development will comprise an eight storey over basement level contemporary hotel, with cafe, restaurant and bar. The Irish Times, 29th September

 

OFFICE

Stillorgan, Co Dublin A suburban office building, home to the Belgian bank KBC, is guiding €5 million. Maple House is located on a prominent corner site directly opposite Stillorgan Village Centre. The building comprises ground floor banking/retail use and two floors of overhead offices with separate entrance foyer and lift providing access to the overhead offices. It extends to c. 11,963 sq. ft. The ground floor has been sub-divided, with the banking hall occupied by KBC and a separate retail unit sub-let from the bank to Reads Printing, Graphic Design & Stationery. The property is fully let with rent of €335,788 a year. The ground floor is let on a 35-year lease from 1994 to 2029 to KBC Bank Ireland at a current rent of €180,000 a year. The first-floor office accommodation is let to house builder Durkan New Homes, on a 10-year lease from April 2017 at a passing rent of €63,450 a year. The second floor is let on a new 10-year lease from January 2021 to PAX Asset Management at €62,710 a year and three income producing telecoms licenses provide a combined income of €29,628 a year. This indicates a net initial yield of 6.1%, and a price per sq. ft. of €418 after allowing for typical purchaser’s costs of 9.96%. The Irish Times, 29th September

Clonskeagh, Co Dublin Eagle Street Partners, a property investment fund set up by former Glenveagh Properties co-founder Justin Bickle and former executive Shane Scully, has bought two south Dublin office blocks at Richview Office Park in Clonskeagh, bringing its total investment to c. €150 million since it was set up at the end of last year. Backed by an unnamed institutional investor, Eagle Street says it wants to build a pan-European property business, buying, developing and refurbishing property in the commercial, residential and hospitality markets. It also has a focus on properties for the life sciences sector. The Irish Times, 4th October

Google, Dublin Google has won an appeal at the Valuation Tribunal, an independent state body that decides on rates disputes, over an “inequitable” €363,140-a-year bill for the Velasco building in Dublin’s docklands. Google leases the building from Irish Life. It has succeeded in reducing the annual rates bill on the six-storey office block to €346,390, down by €16,750 a year. The decision was made by the tribunal in June and published last week. Google had claimed the original bill was “excessive and inequitable” and argued that it should be reduced to €309,540. It first complained over the rates in 2018 after the Commissioner of Valuation gave the office a net annual value (NAV) of €1,355,000, a figure used to calculate a building’s commercial rates. All councils use a multiplier to assess rates, and Dublin city council multiplies each building’s NAV by 0.268. The Valuation Tribunal adjusted the building’s rates to reflect the use of its basement as a store but was “not convinced” there was a case for a lower overall rate. The Sunday Times, 3rd October

 

STUDENT ACCOMMODATION

Drumcondra, Dublin 9 A development opportunity with planning permission for 114 beds for students near the DCU campuses in Drumcondra, Dublin 9, is being offered for sale with a €3,850,000 guide price. Extending to 0.48 acres, the lot currently contains three houses, two of which are laid out in serviced offices. The other is residential and could be rented. Located at Nos. 116, 118 and 120 Upper Drumcondra Road on the eastern side of the road, it faces The Skylon Hotel and Lidl supermarket and is also between two DCU campuses – All Hallows to the rear, and St Patrick’s to its west. The Irish Independent, 30th September

 

INDUSTRIAL

Knockmitten, Dublin 22 Harvey is asking €1.8m for a 1.56-acre industrial property with longer-term development potential. Located on Knockmitten Lane North, the property benefits from a 90-metre profile to Nangor Road and was recently rezoned to REGEN, providing for future residential redevelopment, subject to planning approval. Having accommodated an engineering depot for 30 years, it benefits from a large concrete surfaced yard. Its two buildings include semi-detached industrial premises with two-storey offices and staff facilities, totalling 10,850 sq. ft. To its rear is a detached industrial building of 8,084 sq. ft., including a section used for vehicle maintenance. Its yard is gated and fenced and there is a car-parking area at the front of the property. The Irish Independent, 30th September

 

RESIDENTIAL / LAND

Ballincollig, Co Cork CBRE has brought a land capable of accommodating as many as 800 new homes in Maglin, Ballincollig to the market guiding €20m+. The land which has been owned and farmed for decades by a local family is expected to attract the attention of several major developers in the area such as the O’Flynn Group and O’Callaghan Properties as well as the likes of Glenveagh and the Land Development Agency. 62 of the 73 acres, just north of the Ballincollig bypass, are zoned for medium density residential development, capable of holding a new development on the scale of Classis Lake, Ballinglanna, Old Quarter, Mount Oval Village, Castlelake and similar developments, and is likely to take up to a decade to build out. Close-by too, the Ballincollig-based O’Flynn Group has acquired a landbank of c. 69 acres, paying a reported €20m/€21m almost two years ago. The Irish Examiner, 30th September

Tallaght, Dublin 24 The former Gallaher cigarette factory site in Tallaght has come to the market quoting €16.5 million. Home builder Greenleaf Homes attained planning permission for 502 units on the six-acre site, following an application to An Bord Pleanála back in February 2020 under the Strategic Housing Development system. Approval was granted in May 2020 for 197 one beds, 257 two beds and 48 three-bed apartments along with 8,729 sq. ft. of retail units including a 3,541 sq. ft. creche and parking for 202 cars. The site benefits from its convenient location adjacent to Tallaght Village. The Irish Times, 29th September

Naas Road, Dublin 12 Knight Frank is guiding more than €7.5m for Gowan House on the Naas Road, Dublin 12. Extending to 2.3 acres, the Naas Road site faces onto the Luas Red Line close to the Bluebell stop. O’Mahony Pike Architects have produced a feasibility study which indicates the potential for a 201-apartment development with tenant amenity and retail, facing onto the Naas Road where it has 80 metres of road frontage. It currently accommodates a modern single-storey detached warehouse incorporating two-storey offices extending to 40,000 sq. ft. Under the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022, the site is zoned objective Z14, that is “to seek the social, economic and physical development of an area with mixed use, of which residential and “Z6” would be predominant uses”. The Irish Independent, 30th September

Malahide, Co Dublin Gallagher Quigley Estate Agents is offering a development site for sale in central Malahide guiding €1.75m. Spanning almost a third of an acre, the site at Casuarinas on Grove Road includes an existing bungalow with full planning permission for the construction of a two-storey, modern residence extending to c. 3,466 sq. ft. The mature site is adjacent to schools and within walking distance of Malahide village and train station. The Business Post, 3rd October

Private Rental Sector, Ireland Investment in the Private Rental Sector (PRS) continued to “outperform” the rest of the CRE in the third quarter of this year, according to a report from real estate group Savills. In total, €414m worth of assets in the PRS were trading during the period, accounting for 52% of investment volumes in the quarter. Apartments with a value of €1.9bn have traded so far this year, giving the sector a 54% market share. Almost €800m was invested in the Irish property market in the three months to September 30, bringing year-to-date investment volumes in Irish real estate to €3.5bn. This represents the highest volumes for the period on record. The retail sector accounted for €107m of investment this quarter, or 14% of the total volume – the first time since quarter one of 2019 that the sector has accounted for more than 10% of total volume. Meanwhile, investment in the office sector during quarter three was less than €140m, down significantly on the previous quarter when €311m was invested in office assets. The Irish Independent, 4th October

Leeson Street, Dublin 4 Developer Johnny Ronan has lodged a planning application to develop 44 luxury apartments for the rental market at Appian Way in Dublin 4. It is the latest effort to develop the prominent 0.23-acre site, which is at the junction of Leeson Street, as it has lain vacant for c. a decade and a half. Back in 2016, permission was sought by the Ronan Group to develop the site by building 16 apartments, although this didn’t go ahead, and the site was then offered to the market back in 2019 for €4.5 million, with this planning permission in place. The proposed development on the site stretches to nine storeys high and will consist of 29 studio and 15 one-bed units, with a top floor set-back and designated as a communal amenity and terrace space. All the units will have either balconies or terraces. The development will prioritise sustainability, with a focus on energy efficiency features, while 66 bicycle parking spaces will take priority over private car spaces. The Irish Times, 29th September

Millennium Park, Co Kildare Car dealer Raymond Conlan and Owen Curtin have agreed to buy c. 130 acres at Millennium Park in Co Kildare from Tetrarch Capital. Curtin and Conlan’s Millennium Falcon vehicle is to acquire the vast land bank, which is strategically situated on the M7 motorway. The lands are subject to different zoning for planning, and full development will require significant infrastructural works. Tetrarch paid Nama €35 million for 330 acres of land and a business park at Millennium Park in 2015. It sold the business park for €25.3 million to Yew Grove Reit and a parcel of land to Glenveagh Properties for €22.6 million. The sale to Millennium Falcon will more than double its money. The Sunday Times, 3rd October

 

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