8th February (Issue 333)
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
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Swords Business Campus RocDoc has signed a 10-year lease from December 2021 for 22,500 sq. ft. of office space at the development. The campus is positioned near the M1, five minutes north of Dublin Airport, and will be serviced directly by the planned Metro Link which will link the campus directly to St Stephen’s Green in an estimated journey time of 25 minutes. RocDoc is an Irish heathcare provider which focuses on minor emergency, GP clinics and Covid-19 testing centres nationwide. The owners of the Business Campus have in recent years begun broadening the range of occupiers from traditional office to healthcare and educational spaces. SIMS IVF relocated to the campus in 2020. Joint agents TWM and JLL note they are seeing strong interest for the remaining available space in the park ranging from 4,000 sq. ft. to 25,000 sq. ft. quoting rent of €18 psf. The Irish Times, 2nd February
Apex Business Centre, Dublin 18 Colliers are guiding €1.1m (11.3% NIY) for Unit B, Block C Apex Business Centre in Dublin 18. The 2,228 sq. ft. first floor office is fully let to Allied Pension Trustees Ltd on a 25-year lease from July 2002 at €136,908 pa with five yearly upward only market rent reviews. The property is also being sold with four basement car-parking spaces. The Irish Independent, 3rd February
Capel Building, St Mary’s Abbey Dublin 7 QRE are guiding €2.75m (8.45% NIY) for the penthouse of the Capel Building. The property extends to 6,921 sq. ft. (€397 psf) and comprises of suites 501-506 which have been interconnected to provide high-quality office accommodation. The property is fully let to Storm Technology for 10 years from February 2019 at €255,667 pa. The lease provides for a fixed uplift to €284,097 pa from February 2024 onwards. The tenant has a break option in January 2024. The property is also being sold with three car-parking spaces with the benefit of vacant possession which could be rented for €9k pa. If the tenant does not exercise their break NIY would increase from 8.45% to 9.4%. The Irish Times, 2nd February
Fitzwilliam Hall, Dublin 2 The Paris headquartered real estate investment management firm, Sofidy, has purchased Fitzwilliam Hall, a prominent office building at Leeson Street Bridge for €30.35m (4.2% NIY). The 30,757 sq. ft. office building comprises Fitzwilliam Hall which is divided between a basement and four upper floors, connected on each floor to the second building, 25 Fitzwilliam Place. It was sold by Henderson Park, the London headquartered private equity real estate manager and is Sofidy’s second Irish acquisition. They acquired 76-78 Harcourt Street, occupied by the OPW in July 2021 for €21m, also from Henderson Park. Henderson Park announced in 2020 the sale of the Capital Collection, a €400m portfolio it acquired as part of its €1.34bn buyout of Green Reit. The Irish Times, 2nd February
RETAIL
Portmarnock, North Dublin Centra has agreed to become the anchor tenant for the retail centre at St Marnock’s Bay, the new residential scheme being delivered by Quintain in Portmarnock, North Dublin. The 3,200 sq. ft. retail unit will front on to Station Road. Quintain has two other units available to let extending to 985 sq. ft. and 1,677 sq. ft. The centre adjoins Portmarnock Dart Station and the two units would suit a pharmacy, café or medical centre. Quintain plans to build 1,200 residential units on 98 acres of land in Portmarnock. 270 homes have been built to date with a further 133 to be completed in early 2022. The Irish Times, 2nd February
Carrigaline, Cork Savills Cork are guiding €1.05m (9.75% NIY) for a 3,600 sq. ft. purpose-built bank building on the main street in Carrigaline, currently let to AIB Bank. AIB have five years remaining on their current lease at €112,600 pa. The property is located in the middle of Main Street, close to where a new ring road is under construction to the rear of this street-fronting property and where discount retailer Aldi plan a new €10 million 15,000 sq. ft. new store directly to the north. The two-storey property is on a site of 0.14 aces with parking to the rear for 14 cars. The Irish Examiner, 3rd February
HOSPITALITY
Howth Castle, Tetrarch Capital and Michael J Wright Hospitality Group are seeking planning permission for a €10m redevelopment of Howth Castle. The plans include a new 150 seat restaurant, cookery school, gin-making school, picnic and play areas, a falconry, petting farm, a garden centre and a range of retail stores. The National Transport Museum would remain on the site while a 150-seater marquee would be located to the south of the castle for weddings and other events. The plans also include 6km of internal walks and cycleways through the estate to link Sutton and Howth. The Wright group would take a 25-year lease on the property. Tetrarch purchased the Castle and 472 acres of surrounding lands along with Ireland’s Eye from the Gaisford-St Lawrence family for an undisclosed sum in 2019. The Irish Times, 3rd February
2022 Pub Sales The Sunday Business Post reports that agents are expecting an increase in sales activity in the Dublin pubs market this year with some agents expecting early 2022 sales to be up to €46m, higher than the annual average of €35m over the last 10 years. There were c. 12 pubs sale agreed at the end of 2021. A strong Q1 would see the whole of 2022 sales close to €70m which was also seen last year. This compares to €41.65m of sales in 2020. Lisney note that the €70m seen in 2021, which was the largest market turnover in a decade, was generated by the sales of 27 Dublin pubs. The Business Post, 6th February
MIXED
Independent House, Dublin 1 Knight Frank are guiding €34m for Independent House, located at the corner of Talbot Street and James Joyce Street in Dublin City Centre. The 55,151 sq. ft. property (€616 psf) comprises four floors of grade-A office accommodation over retail at ground floor. The fourth and fifth floors also feature communal south-facing balconies and terraces overlooking the city. The property is the Dublin headquarters of Mediahuis Ireland Limited, the publisher of various newspapers including the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent. The lease was recently regeared along with a significant building fabric upgrade. Mediahuis Ireland Limited signed a new 10 year lease on 1st January 2022 at €1.66m pa with a full guarantee from its Belgian parent and reviews will be CPI linked. 26 secure basement car spaces are included in the Mediahuis lease. A €4m programme of upgrade works is currently being undertaken by the company. The 9,649 sq. ft. retail space is let to SuperValu on a 25 year FRI lease from December 2004. Based on its guide price of €34 million, the revised combined rent roll of €1,941,592 per annum at Independent House offers the prospective purchaser a net initial yield of 5.2%. The Irish Times, 2nd February
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Dublin Properties The Sunday Business reports that Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) may be seeking a new business partner as part of a prospective bid to purchase a collection of Dublin properties worth €1.2bn. The three properties are Fibonacci Square on the site of the old AIB Bank Centre in Ballsbridge, where Facebook plan to located their EMEA headquarters, The Waterfront South Central, which is a commercial and residential scheme which will include up to 1,000 new homes and Spencer Place, the future EMEA headquarters of Salesforce and a hotel to be known as Samuel run by Dalata Hotels. The Business Post, 6th February
Dundrum, Dublin Rockfield Centre, located immediately adjacent to the Luas green line stop at Balally and 350m from the entrance to Dundrum Town Centre, has been brought to market by Savills and Investi guiding €25.5m. The sale of the investment at that level would offer the buyer a NIY of 6.75 per cent and equates to a capital value of €341 per square foot. The investment comprises three blocks let to 20 tenants with a WAULT of over seven years and generates €1.89m pa. Rockfield Central comprises 74,858 sq. ft. across three blocks, North, South and East. The investment is virtually fully let to 20 tenants including the vendor, Mac Group, Mott MacDonald, Medserv and VHI Investments, with 77% of the income derived from offices and 23% from retail. The average passing office rent is €24.53 per square foot (excluding car parking). The blocks, managed by Investi, offer substantial asset management opportunities, meanwhile, with several outstanding rent reviews and potential to let the part vacant floor in the north block. The subject portfolio also includes 45 car-parking spaces in the adjoining Balally park and ride facility and seven surface spaces. The Irish Times, 2nd February
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
RESIDENTIAL / DEVELOPMENT
Blanchardstown, Dublin Joint agents Cushman and Wakefield and Savills are guiding €35m for 118.40 acres (€296k per acre) near Blanchardstown with potential for significant re-development. The property known as Killamonan Business Park is currently undeveloped and mainly in agricultural use. The site is zoned entirely for general employment use and 114 acres are located to the southeast of the M2 while two separate land parcels are located on the opposite side of the M2 link road. There is an existing dwelling on part of the lands known as Killamonan House and Gardens, which extends to about 1.5 acres and also forms part of the sale. The site is 3km from Dublin Airport, 5km from the M50 and 13km from Dublin Port Tunnel. The Irish Times, 2nd February
Foxrock, Co Dublin Joint agents CBRE and Beirne & Wise are guiding €3.25m for a 1.48-acre site (€2.19m per acre) in Foxrock located on Mart Lane at the corner junction with St Brigid’s Park and c.1km from Foxrock village via Westminster Road. The site is zoned Objective A “to protect and improve residential amenity”. According to a feasibility study carried out by Plus Architecture, the site can accommodate several 1,076 sq. ft. to 1,389 sq. ft. terraced and semi-detached houses. The Irish Times, 2nd February
Castledermot, Co. Kildare CBRE are guiding €1.5m for a 15-acre site (€100k per acre) which includes 12.6 acres of residentially zoned land at Castledermot, Co. Kildare. Previous planning permission that was granted in 2005, extended in 2012, has since expired but allowed for 154 residential units comprising houses, duplex, and apartment units. The Irish Times, 2nd February
Blackrock, Cork City The Ursuline Order has sold a three-acre site and their purpose-built 16-bed home in Blackrock village to property development firm Lyonshall for €3.94m. Lyonshall previous bought the order’s period Convent and former school in 2002 for €13m which they subsequently sold for €30m. Savills brought the property to market in September 2021 guiding €4m. The Irish Examiner, 3rd February
Dublin 6 Hunters are guiding €2.45m for 44 Leeson Park in Dublin 6. The property comprises a three storey, mid terraced redbrick Victorian 3,165 sq. ft. building. It originally had a pre-63 declaration for 10 units but has been upgraded and now contains six rooms in the upper portion as well as a two bedroomed flat at garden level. The Business Post, 6th February
Cost Rental Developments in Kilcarbery in Clondalkin and City West are offering tenants with difficulty affording rent prices the opportunity to rent properties at 30% below market rates with 118 apartments and duplexes being offered between the two sites. Under the cost rental system, rents are based on the costs of building, managing, and maintaining the homes and allow tenants lease properties for several years. The scheme is aimed at households with a net income of up to €53,000 pa, who earn too much to quality for social housing but cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market. Tuath will be offering one-bed apartments in Kilcarbery at €1k per month with two beds to be priced at €1.2k. In City West the two beds will also be €1.2k per month and 3 bed duplexes for €1.3k. The Irish Times, 7th February
OTHER
Cushman & Wakefield Q4 2021 Investment Market Report notes the last three months of 2021 saw just under €2bn worth of commercial property assets trade hands of which the majority were income generating at the point of sale. There was €5bn transacted across 173 deals in 2021 in the Irish investment market.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is now a criterion which valuers must now consider along with sustainability as part of the revised Red Book criteria. Johanna Gill, Deputy Head of Valuation and Advisory at Cushman & Wakefield noted “Valuers will have to interpret market views on sustainability and ESG, and a practical result is that the valuations of second-tier assets are being affected”. The Irish Independent, 3rd February
Data Centres Dublin is ranked 21 of 55 in terms of market size in the latest survey of global data centre locations. Dublin, with a vacancy rate of c3% achieved the third highest occupancy rate and ranked sixth in terms of development pipeline with 200 megawatts of capacity under construction. Dublin maintained its number one ranking in terms of being the safest for environmental risks. Dublin ranked 21 in terms of total power of almost 200 megawatts. The Irish Independent, 3rd February
Mount Juliet Equestrian Centre Sherry Fitzgerald County Homes and Estates and local agent Sherry Fitzgerald McCreery in Thomastown are seeking €1.75m for the Mount Juliet Equestrian Centre. The property comprises 26 loose boxes across two barns and was fully refurbished c. six months ago. There is also use of c.30 acres of paddocks under lease and access to c.500 acres of trail rides on the managed estate. The Business Post, 6th February
KBC Non-Performing loans of c.€1.1bn have been sold to a US-headquartered investment manager Carval Investors. Pepper Finance will manage the loan portfolio. The portfolio consists of private homes and buy to let loans. The Irish Independent, 7th February
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