8th October (Issue 467)
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
Dalkey, South Dublin Just over three years on from its acquisition for €3.5m by hoteliers Ray Byrne and Eoin Doyle, the Queens pub in Dalkey has returned to the market. The venue has planning permission for a 30-bedroom boutique guest house to the rear of the property. With that planning consent now in place, the Queens is being offered to the market as a going concern through joint agents JLL and Lisney at a guide price of €3.95m. The Irish Times, 2nd October
Ennis, Co Clare Kelvin Hotels Ltd is expanding its business with the purchase of Temple Gate Hotel in the centre of Ennis. No price was disclosed in this off-market transaction but industry sources suggest the price could have exceeded €7m. The 70-bedroom hotel, bar and restaurant will continue to operate through a transition. Temple Gate was operated by the Madden family. The Irish Independent, 3rd October
Lough Eske Castle, Co Donegal Harcourt Developments is set to unveil an upgrade of its five-star Lough Eske Castle hotel in Co Donegal after investing €5m to grow its room count by 28%. Comprising 25 new luxury suites and two double bedrooms, the revamp brings the total number of keys at the castle hotel to 124. Harcourt said the investment in Lough Eske Castle is part of a €20m upgrade of its hotel portfolio. The Irish Times, 7th October
Liffey Street, Dublin 1 The Grand Social has been acquired by experienced night-time operators Eoin Pardy and Rory Keogh. The property was sold by Frank Gleeson. Located on Liffey Street, it overlooks the River Liffey at the Ha’penny Bridge and extends to over 9,520 sq. ft. The pub and music venue was previously known as Pravda, one of the city’s first superpubs. The Irish Independent, 3rd October
RETAIL
Henry Street, Dublin 1 An Irish private investor has acquired 45/47 Henry Street in Dublin city centre from Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) for €10.25m (6.45% NIY) in an off-market deal. The property is fully let to Spanish fashion retailer Mango at a passing rent of €728k pa. The unit extends to 19,542 sq. ft over four floors with 11,291 sq. ft of trading space distributed across its ground- and first-floor levels. Mango has occupied the property since 2014 and has 11.2 years remaining on its lease, with 6.2 years of that term certain. The Irish Times, 2nd October
OFFICE
Santry, Co Dublin Arachas has expanded its office operations and signed a new five-year lease for the first and second floors at Block B in Dublin Airport Business Park in Santry. The company’s new office space extends to a total area of 6,674 sq. ft. Ocean Network Express, a global container shipping company with headquarters in Singapore, has agreed to occupy the ground floor of the property (3,000 sq. ft) on a five-year lease. Both Arachas and Ocean Express are understood to have agreed a rent of approx. €26 psf. Block B briefly comprises a total of 10,000 sq. ft of grade-A office accommodation over three floors. The Irish Times, 2nd October
CBRE Report A rebound in Dublin office-leasing ¬activity has been seen during the nine months to the end of September, with occupiers signing up for as much as 600,088 sq. ft of space. According to the latest figures from estate agent CBRE, take-up in the first three-quarters of 2024 is higher than the whole of last year. A further 917,085 sq. ft of Dublin ¬office stock is “reserved” and the agent is now forecasting that total take-up for 2024 will exceed 1,991,323 sq. ft. Professional services and financial occupiers continue to actively pursue modern, sustainable Dublin office space. The Irish Independent, 5th October
HEALTHCARE / NURSING HOMES
Nursing Home Portfolio The receiver to five provincial nursing homes is hoping to generate more than €9m from their sale and some of the proceeds are expected to go to investors who invested through the Blackbee group. The Belgooly home (Co Cork) extends to 28,026 sq. ft and accommodates 61 bedrooms. Bantry (Co Cork) extends to 15,654 sq. ft and includes 46 bedrooms and two apartments. Conna (Co Cork) extends to 23,041 sq. ft with 47 bedrooms and it also has a four-bedroom staff house. Ballinasloe (Co Galway) extends to 28,081 sq. ft with 55 bedrooms. Callan (Co Kilkenny) extends to 25,990 sq. ft accommodating 59 bedrooms. The Irish Independent, 2nd October
INDUSTRIAL / LOGISTICS
Swords, Co Dublin EOS IT Solutions has acquired Gamestop’s former headquarters at Swords Business Park. While the value of the deal has not been disclosed EOS is understood to have paid over €5m to secure ownership of Estuary House. Estuary House comprises a high-specification industrial unit of 41,290 sq. ft. The building includes two-storey office accommodation extending to 14,235 sq. ft. The Irish Times, 2nd October
Ennis, Co Clare An Bord Pleanála no longer stands over planning permission it granted for a new €1.2bn data centre campus in Co Clare, the High Court heard. Three local environmentalists and two NGOs brought a legal challenge over the approval of the controversial project set for the outskirts of Ennis. Ms Justice Emily Farrell was told the planning body’s concession relates to its acknowledgement of a failure to properly consider the development’s effects on the environment, specifically in relation to bats. The planning, strategic assessment and zoning processes took six years, before An Bord Pleanála granted permission last April. The Irish Independent, 7th October
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
Donnybrook, Dublin 4 A group of Dublin 4 residents have won their battle to prevent a 10-storey 225 bed-space student accommodation for Donnybrook getting the green light. An Bord Pleanála has overturned Dublin City Council’s grant of planning permission to Red Rock Donnybrook Ltd for a Large-Scale Residential Development at the Circle K Petrol Station at the junction of Donnybrook Road and Brookvale Road. The council had granted planning permission after omitting two storeys from the 10-storey block scheme. The Irish Times, 4th October
MIXED-USE
Rathmines Road Lower, Dublin 6 Quantum Property Consultants has brought to market an institutional grade mixed-use investment guiding €11m. The subject asset is located at Rathmines Road Lower and comprises 17 apartments along with three commercial units generating €757k pa in rental income (GIY 6.9%). Quantum Property Consultants Press Release, 7th October
Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1 23 Ormond Quay Lower, which consists of three spacious one-bedroom-plus-study apartments, each approx. 700 sq. ft, and a ground-floor office suite of approx. 430 sq. ft, comes to the market with a guide price of €1.275m. With one apartment currently vacant, once it is re-let at its previous rent the estimated annual rental income for the building comes to €93.6k (GIY 7.35%). The Irish Times, 2nd October
Residential / Development
Clonee, Co Meath Joint commercial agents Lisney and Colliers have brought a development site to market on Clonee’s Main Street in Co Meath, which has full planning permission for 45 residential units over retail spaces and which is guiding €1.85m. The regular shaped development site extends to approx. one acre and was formerly run as McDonald’s pub. The residential units include five one-bedroom units, 32 two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom apartments. The Business Post, 5th October
Howth, Co Dublin A residential development site located within Howth has been launched to market with Cushman & Wakefield guiding €4.75m. The 3.71-acre site on Kitestown Road is split into two different sections. The larger is zoned ‘RS-Residential’ and extends to approx. 2.87 acres, while the balance is zoned ‘OS – Open Space’ and extends to approx. 0.84 acres. The Business Post, 5th October
Cork The LDA is set to partner in the development of a second large-scale apartment scheme in Cork city docklands by year end, with speculation centred on Glenveagh Properties’ plans for more than 1,000 homes near the Marina. It is also progressing plans for 900 homes in the Marina Quarter, including 600 at the former ESB Marina generating station site on Centre Park Road, and 300 at a Bord na Móna site on nearby Monahan Road. The Irish Examiner, 3rd October
Eden Quay, Dublin 1 Lefroy House in Dublin city centre is being offered to the market by Salvation Army at a guide price of €3.75m (€419.2 psf). Lefroy House comprises a distinctive three-storey over-basement building of 8,945 sq. ft. Located at the junction of Eden Quay and Marlborough Street and facing the river Liffey, the property consists of a mix of refurbished self-contained apartments and bedrooms, recreational spaces, dining area and offices. The building has 36 rooms plus 11 shower rooms and toilet facilities for ladies and gents. The Irish Times, 2nd October
Bray, Co Wicklow A Johnny Ronan development site in Wicklow has seen its asking price reduced from €2.75m to €2m. Last April, CBRE offered a larger site to the market extending to 12.4 acres, whereas the site currently for sale is 11.5 acres, after it emerged during the sales process that 0.9 acres was not for inclusion. The receivers and agents who are undertaking its sale have also submitted it for auction on the BidX1 platform on October 24. Known as St Valery’s, the site overlooks the M11, with access from Enniskerry Road, near Bray. Three different types of zoning apply, with 4.6 acres available for residential development, 4.4 acres for open space and 2.5 acres for tourism. The Irish Independent, 8th October
Sherry FitzGerald Report According to an analysis by Sherry FitzGerald, Ireland now requires 62,000 new homes to be built annually in the coming years. The government is set to miss its target of 33,450 homes built in 2024, the analysis concluded, with the state likely to fall short of the 32,700 new homes completed last year. In the first six months of this year, according to Sherry FitzGerald, 12,730 residential units were completed in total, 8.6% lower than the first half of 2023. The Business Post, 7th October
Ballymadun, Co Dublin Joint agents Grimes and DNG Royal County are guiding a price of €8.5m (€44.8k per acre) for a 189.5-acre land bank in Ballymadun, adjacent to Ashbourne Business Park in Meath. The property comprises a mix of 180.6 acres of rural-use lands and 8.9 acres of rural-village lands under the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2029. The Irish Times, 2nd October
OTHER
EY Survey According to a survey carried out by EY, an improving macro-economic environment and the ECB’s rate cuts are paving the way to a more supportive growth environment for the real estate market. Residential development is the most attractive asset in the real estate financing market with strong fundamentals and potentially big opportunities likely to arise for supportive equity investors. The notable drop in apartment development is unlikely to recover, from a financing perspective, until Institutional Equity re-emerges in the market. EY Real Estate Borrower Outlook Survey 2024, 1st October
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