22nd March (Issue 38)
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.
LOAN / PORTFOLIO SALES
Project Beara: NAMA has appointed EY to manage the sale of Project Beara, a c. €250m loan portfolio secured by retail, residential and land portfolio assets. Included in Project Beara are loans linked to the Cork-based Love family. While it is unclear when the sale will be formally launched, it is not expected to be until after Project Abbey is sold. Real Estate Capital, 16th March
RETAIL
Sandhills Shopping Centre: Colliers has set an asking price of c. €4m on the eight year old Sandhills Shopping Centre in Carlow. With a current rent roll of c. €428k p.a., the shopping centre would offer investors a net initial yield of c. 10.2%. The nine-unit, 27,260 sq. ft. shopping centre is fully occupied and the current tenants include SuperValu and Boylesports. The Irish Times, 16th March
Blackrock Mixed Use: Murphy Mulhall has obtained a sales price of €3.9m for five shops with offices on 14 – 22 Main Street, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. The properties extend to 16,299 sq. ft. of commercial space, of which 2,594 sq. ft. is vacant office space. The units were sold to an unnamed investor who paid c. €400k above the guide price. The current rent roll of the portfolio is c. €294k p.a., however there is potential to increase this to c. €360k p.a. through asset management. Tenants include Boylesports, Supermacs and Eddie Rockets. The Irish Times, 16th March
Thomas Street: Lidl has paid over €6m to acquire three adjoining ground floor retail units on Thomas Street in Dublin 8. Given that Lidl already occupy one of the retail units, it is envisaged that they may look to expand their offering in the near future. The current rent roll of the units is c. €480k p.a., with Lidl paying c. 60% of the rent. The other units are occupied by Spar and EuroGiant. The Irish Times, 16th March
OFFICE
Elm Park: Starwood has completed the purchase of Elm Park in Dublin 4 for €183.47m. Assets included in the sale of Elm Park were three office blocks, 218 apartments and eight luxury townhouses. Of the three office blocks, Blocks B and C are completed and provide 178,199 sq. ft. of net floor space. The final block, the Pioneer Building, has planning permission to facilitate 173,673 sq. ft. of floor space. The total rental income of the park is c. €9.55m p.a. Colliers International advised Starwood for the transaction. Colliers, 14th March
Block G Eastpoint: An unnamed investor has purchased Block G in Eastpoint Business Park, Dublin 3 for €4.95m, which was sold by Colliers. The three storey property extends to 26,500 sq. ft., giving it a capital value of c. €187 psf. The current rental income from the property is c. €161k p.a., from tenants Activision and Misys. Since the property was listed on the market, there has been a lease agreed with Red C for the ground floor (8,632 sq. ft.) and 15 car spaces. The Irish Times, 16th March
Blackrock Business Park: Kennedy Wilson has paid €14.5m for three office buildings in Blackrock Business Park in south Dublin. The buildings are part of nine office blocks in one of the best located business blocks in the south Dublin suburbs, close to Blackrock DART station. Completed in 2007, the units have an overall floor area of 50,000 sq. ft. and are fully let to eight tenants. The largest tenant is Hair Restoration Ltd, who account for c. 35% of the total rental income. The total rental income is c. €1.016m p.a. and the units have a weighted average unexpired lease term of four years based on break clauses. The Irish Times, 16th March
Lower Baggot Street, Dublin: Three substantial Georgian houses with full vacant possession at 88, 89 and 90 Lower Baggot Street have come on the market through joint agents O’Connor Shannon and Sherry Fitzgerald. The properties have a guide price of €3.45m for all three houses, or €1.2m if purchased individually. The 12,400 sq. ft. of floor space is evenly distributed amongst the three five-storey properties, with the properties currently accommodating 12 apartments and three floors of office space. The new owners could potentially extend the houses to create a prime residential scheme, a mixed use investment or a boutique hotel. The Irish Times, 16th March
9 Lanyon Place, Belfast: The US insurance and IT firm Allstate has agreed to an extension of their lease in 9 Lanyon Place, Belfast city centre, until 2018 for £20 (€26) psf. The landlord for the property is Kilmona, which is linked to the developer Paddy Kearney. The new rent is a record for the city, and is at a level which should encourage developers to proceed with further much-needed HQ sized developments. Paddy Kearney also has plans for an 80,000 sq. ft. extension to the property, which will be feasible if rents remain at or above £20 per sq. ft. NAMA Wine Lake, 20thMarch
HOTEL
Lyrath Estate Hotel: CBRE are guiding in excess of €20m for the Lyrath Estate Hotel & Spa which lies outside Kilkenny city. The five star, 139-bed hotel is understood to be highly profitable and is equipped with both an 1,800-seat function room and an award winning spa. The hotel cost c. €50m to develop and was opened in 2006. Bank of Scotland appointed KPMG as receiver over the hotel in 2012 at a time when it was linked to debts of c. €50m. The Irish Times, 16th March
Bellinter House: A consortium led by Barry O’Sullivan is expected to complete the purchase of the Bellinter House hotel later this week for c. €3m. The property is being purchased through Broadreach Investments, a newly incorporated vehicle set up in January. The history of the 34-bed Bellinter House dates back to 1750 when it was designed by Richard Castle. In 2006 the property opened as a hotel following a c. €16m renovation by Jay Bourke and John Reynolds, who purchased the property in 2003 for €2.3m. The Irish Times, 21st March
RESIDENTIAL / LAND
Negative Equity Figures:The latest figures from the ESRI reveal that the number of households in negative equity has fallen below 100,000 for the first time in eight years. Figures obtained by the ESRI from the Department of the Environment identified 99,950 households in negative equity at the end of 2015, significantly below the recessionary peak of 314,000 in 2012. With property prices currently increasing by c. 6% p.a., the ESRI estimate that there would be no households in negative equity at the end of 2019 should this growth rate continue. The Irish Times, 16th March
Wicklow Development: Ardale Property is purchasing 172 acres of land near Tinakilly Hotel in north Wicklow for an undisclosed amount. Of the 172 acres being acquired, c. 58 acres are zoned for residential development. Ardale hopes to build up to 700 homes on the site, which is c. 46km from Dublin and near the M11 / N11. The directors of Ardale are Alan Hegarty and Emma Maye. The Irish Independent, 20thMarch
Social Housing Fund: Details have been released regarding a proposal from The Irish League of Credit Unions to the Government last October, where the league offered €5bn in funding to develop up to 26,000 social housing units between now and 2021. The league represents 437 credit unions, has assets of over €13bn and surplus funds of up to €8bn. Under the proposal submitted by the league, the fund would be established under a special purpose vehicle and would lend to approved housing bodies. Establishing a special purpose vehicle is seen as attractive to the government as it could potentially keep the debt off their books, therefore it would not impact fiscal targets. The Irish Times, 18th March
Property Industry Ireland Paper: Property Industry Ireland (PII) has submitted a policy paper to the Government outlining a number of proposals which they feel could stimulate house building. The main proposals by the group were (i) the establishment of a minister for housing, infrastructure and planning (ii) lowering the VAT rate from 13.5% to 9% and (iii) streamlining the planning process so that it takes a total of 16 weeks to have an application reviewed by the local authority and An Bord Pleanála. The Irish Times, 22nd March
OTHER
Mater Private: The Irish – American Private Equity Fund Carlyle Cardinal has been announced as one of the shortlisted bidders for the Mater Private hospital group, which is valued at c. €500m. Other shortlisted bidders include AMP Capital and Macquarie. The Mater group has revenues of c. €200m and the majority owner is CapVest, a venture capital fund led by Séamus Fitzpatrick. In addition to owning the Mater Private Hospital, the group also own clinics in Cork, Limerick, Drogheda, Sligo, Navan and Liverpool. The Irish Times, 21st March
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