20th April (Issue 293)
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.
INDUSTRIAL
Core Portfolio Having engaged CBRE and Eastdil Secured to assess the value of its holdings earlier this year, Core Industrial has now directed them to offer the portfolio at a guide price of €170 million. That pricing is significantly higher than the €100 million level which had been suggested by industry sources. In an announcement published in advance of its then-proposed IPO in 2018, Core said its portfolio comprised of 106 industrial assets and 167 acres of land (of which 36.7 acres were zoned for development) in the greater Dublin area. Although the properties were valued at €82.9 million in total as of November 30th, 2017, it is understood the portfolio now being offered for sale differs in terms of its composition. The Irish Times, 14th April
North Strand, Dublin 3 The auction of a portfolio of warehouses in Dublin’s North Strand drew strong interest, with 10 parties vying to secure ownership of the units on the day. Having been offered to the market at a minimum opening bid of €650,000 by online auction specialist BidX1, the properties were sold for €1,424,000 following the receipt of more than 150 bids. The portfolio at Ossory Industrial Estate comprises 10 ground-floor warehouse units, along with garages and lock-up units. All the properties are currently occupied, many via informal agreements, and are generating a total of €20,040 in rental income annually. The industrial estate occupies a convenient location between Dublin city centre and the M1 motorway, providing access to both the M50 and Dublin Airport. The Irish Times, 14th April
RETAIL
Naas Road, Dublin Just over two years after it was sold for €25 million, the Royal Liver Park on Dublin’s Naas Road looks set for a potential return to the market at a new asking price of around €50 million. The retail park’s owners, Allied Real Estate Group (AREG), are understood to be considering its sale, The Irish Times understands they are weighing up a forward-funding proposal which would see them lead the delivery of a major residential scheme. Last July, AREG secured planning permission from Dublin City Council for the development of 1,102 apartments on the site, the vast majority of which will be aimed towards the private rented sector (PRS) market. The units will be distributed across nine blocks ranging from seven storeys upwards. The approved scheme also includes an 18-storey (77.6m/255ft) office building, as well as a 203-unit shared accommodation or co-living development. The Irish Times, 13th April
Dundrum, Dublin 14 Dundrum Town Centre co-owner, Hammerson, has reported 34pc rent collection in Ireland for the three months to June this year. Across the group, 40pc of its rent for the same period has been received to date, with the UK collecting 48pc and France 23pc, according to an update from the company. An aggregate 46pc of rent due for the first half of this year has been received. “Market conditions have remained challenging since our results update in early March,” Hammerson said. The company operates in seven different countries, with a number of flagship retail centres including the Bullring in Birmingham, UK. It co-owns Dundrum Town Centre, along with German insurer Allianz. The group also owns half of the Pavilions shopping centre in Swords, the Ilac Centre in Dublin city centre and 40pc of the Kildare Village premium outlet mall. Irish Independent, 20th April
OFFICE
Matheson HQ, Dublin 2 Irish Life has agreed to sell a Dublin docklands building to the real-estate arm of German asset manager Deka Group for c€125 million, according to sources. The off-market deal cements Deka Immobilien’s position as one of the most active buyers of Irish commercial property in the past five years. The agreed transaction comes less than a year after the law firm Matheson signed a new 12-year lease on the 12,355sq m (133,000sq ft) seven-story over basement building, called Riverside IV, on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay overlooking the Liffey. It has rented the property since 2007. The Irish Times, 15th April
MIXED USE
Washington Street, Cork Planning has been granted by Cork City Council for change of use and alterations to 50/51 Grand Parade, known for decades as Finns’ Corner. Approval has been given for conversion of the ground floor to cafe use, with seven overhead apartments. Six of the apartments – three one-bed and three studio apartments – are earmarked for the second, third and fourth floors while the seventh two-storey apartment would involve an increase in the height of the building, with the roof raised and a fifth floor added to accommodate it. The redevelopment would require a new roof design and alterations on all building elevations, including new residential access and altered commercial ground-floor access on Grand Parade. Irish Examiner, 15th April
Quanta Capital Quanta Capital, the investment firm run by Mel Sutcliffe and backed by Oaktree, the Californian investment giant, has acquired an 82-acre data centre site on the Dublin/Wicklow border for an undisclosed sum. The land at Kilpedder has planning permission for a 700,000 square foot data centre on 40 of its 82 acres. Quanta may seek to enter a joint venture to develop the site or may sell it in its entirety in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Despite the pandemic the firm acquired €100 million worth of assets in the final quarter of 2020 and has committed close to the same amount again so far in 2021. Recent Quanta Capital acquisitions included several McDonald’s food outlets across the country, the Honda distribution plant on the M50 and over 350,000 square feet of warehousing space. It also purchased the EP Mooney Centre and five acres on the Long Mile Road in Dublin, bringing its landholdings in that area to more than 20 acres. The Business Post, 19th April
RESIDENTIAL / LAND
Leopardstown, Dublin 18 Developers and investors involved in the delivery of accommodation aimed towards the upper end of the capital’s private rented sector (PRS) and traditional owner-occupier markets will be interested in the sale of a site in south Dublin with full planning permission for 200 apartments. Located on Murphystown Road in Leopardstown, the site is being offered to the market on behalf of developer Noel Smyth’s Fitzwilliam Real Estate by Knight Frank at a guide price of €8.5 million. The proposed scheme secured approval under the terms of the Government’s ‘fast-track’ Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process and provides for 200 apartments across four blocks along with supporting amenities, crèche, and car parking. The Irish Times, 14th April
LDA, Cork The Land Development Agency (LDA) has been granted planning permission to build 266 homes, creche facilities and an enterprise centre at the former St Kevin’s Hospital site in Cork. The development, located west of Cork city, will consist of a mix of one to four-bedroom houses, town houses and apartments. It is the first project by the LDA to be granted planning permission in Cork and the second overall project of the Agency to receive permission. The LDA said the primary focus of the development is to provide social and affordable housing, however prices for the renting and purchase of homes have not yet been announced. The Department of Housing has also yet to announce which and how many of the homes will be for rental and which will be for purchase. Now that permission for the builds has been granted the site will go to tender for construction. The Business Post, 19th April
Hines, Dublin 8 An Bord Pleanála has given the green light to fast-track plans by US property giant, Hines to construct 732 residential units on the site of the former Player Wills factory in Dublin 8. The development includes four apartment blocks with one reaching 19 storeys in height and comprises of 492 build-to-rent apartments and 240 shared accommodation units on a site fronting onto South Circular Road. The proposal for the 7.6-acre site involves the demolition of all buildings on site excluding the original fabric of the original Player Wills factory, which will be extended from four to eight storeys in height. The planning application faced strong local opposition with more than 180 submissions lodged with An Bord Pleanála concerning the contentious scheme. As part of Hines’ social housing obligations, it has put a price tag of €19.7 million on 49 apartments it is proposing to sell to Dublin City Council. The price range of the apartments Hines is proposing to sell to the council ranges from €238,828 for a studio apartment to €611,644 for a three-bedroom apartment. With planning granted, the developer and Council can now enter talks on completing the proposed deal. The Irish Times, 19th April
Bord Na Móna, Cork & Limerick Semi-state company Bord na Móna is preparing to appoint a real estate agency as it looks to sell a large site in Cork city centre, which industry sources said could attract bids of up to €10m. Last week, Bord na Móna issued a request for tender seeking to appoint a real estate agency to undertake a sales process on a 4.5-acre site at Monahan Road, Cork. The tender document describes the former coal distribution depot as a “mixed-use site with substantial development potential”. The tender document also shows Bord na Móna is looking to sell a 0.75-acre “residential site” at Courtbrack Avenue, Limerick, which is suitable for development. An industry source estimated that the site in Cork could attract a valuation of between €7m to €10m. The source was unable to provide a potential value for the site in Limerick. Bord na Móna said the properties were no longer needed as the semi-state moves away from carbon-based operations. Sunday Independent, 18th April
Farmland Prices State agriculture development authority Teagasc and the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) said land prices remained resilient in the face of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020. Their joint Agricultural Land Market Review and Outlook forecasts that land prices will rise 4 per cent in 2021 on strong demand and a second successive year of growth in farm incomes. Kildare had the most expensive farmland in the Republic last year, with good quality property fetching €13,600 an acre. Leitrim had the cheapest, with poor quality plots valued at €3,250 an acre. Nationally, the average price for non-residential land ranged from €5,900 per acre for poor quality land to €9,381 for good quality properties. Farm incomes rose 6 per cent in 2020 while Teagasc and the surveyors expect them to grow another 3 per cent this year, helping to underpin already strong demand for land. The Irish Times, 20th April
Dundrum, Dublin 14 Seven luxury apartments, costing more than €2,000 a month, that are being leased for social housing in Dundrum have been left empty for 17 months. In November 2019, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council agreed a deal to lease 87 apartments in the new luxury Herbert Hill apartment complex developed in Dundrum. Based on figures released by the Department of Housing, an average rent of €2,000 a month is being spent on each apartment. A spokeswoman for the local authority has confirmed that seven of the 87 apartments are still not occupied by social tenants. It is understood that they cost an estimated €224,000 to lease over the course of their vacancy. The Business Post, 19th April
If you have an article which you would like to have considered for inclusion in our next weekly report, please contact us at info@origincapital.ie