17th June (Issue 501)
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
Askeaton, Co. Limerick Colliers is seeking €22m for a high-spec manufacturing facility, currently owned and operated by Wyeth Nutritionals Ireland, on 39.5 acres in Askeaton. The production plant and R&D centre are to be shut down on a phased basis. The property can be divided into three main buildings. To the southern end of the site is a state-of-the-art research and development facility which measures approx. 64,990 sq. ft, and includes offices over two storeys, laboratories, pilot processing areas and warehousing. There is an additional 21,387 sq. ft of warehousing, which sits adjacent the R&D facility. The second building comprises the main production and manufacturing area, while to the north of the production area there is a large high bay warehouse with adjoining ancillary warehousing, all measuring 167,265 sq. ft. In addition, Colliers is offering for sale a separate agricultural holding of 35.8 acres adjacent to the facility. The Irish Times, 11th June
Rathcoole, Co. Dublin Joint agents Coonan Property and Savills are guiding €6.55m for a 10.92-acre site with full planning permission for the development of six industrial units in Rathcoole. Located on Tay Lane and situated next to the well-established Greenogue Logistics Park and 2.3km from the N7/Rathcoole junction, the subject site comes with approval for the construction of 170,776 sq. ft of industrial space distributed across units ranging in size from 15,713 sq. ft to 41,452 sq. ft. Existing occupiers in the adjacent Greenogue Logistics Park include Uniphar, Fastway Couriers, Ikea’s first Irish customer distribution centre and Aldar Tissues’ newly developed manufacturing facility. The Irish Times, 11th June
HOSPITALITY
Parnell Street, Dublin 1 Lisney is guiding more than €2.25m for The Parnell Heritage Bar & Grill, near the corner of O’Connell St and Parnell St. It is being sold by the Broder family who purchased it in 2010 for approx. €1m. They subsequently undertook a major investment and extended the premises to include Parnell Street’s only rooftop terrace bar, Captain Moonlight’s, as well as the Rua Cocktail Bar on the first floor. Located opposite the Rotunda Hospital and adjacent to Henry Street, The Parnell Heritage Bar & Grill extends to 7,535 sq. ft. The Irish Independent, 12th June
The Lough, Cork City Keane Mahony Smith is guiding €1.5m for the Hawthorn bar located on the perimeter of The Lough, a protected wildfowl and wildlife reserve in the city and near University College Cork. The bar and split-level lounge premises, with large, picture windows and outdoor screened seating, runs to 7,400 sq. ft over two levels. The sale includes a commercial kitchen, cold rooms, is fully licensed and planning compliant, and has a first-floor restaurant, currently trading as a Chinese restaurant, The Royal Palace, held on a 25-year lease from 2010 to 2035. Lease terms are not divulged. The Irish Examiner, 11th June
Townsend Street, Dublin 2 ORHRE Management Services Limited, a company operated by the Hyland family has applied for planning permission for a 484-bed hostel for 19-20 Lombard Street East and 112-113 and 114 Townsend Street. The site, which currently comprises derelict and vacant buildings, would be partially demolished and replaced with a 97-room hostel, with rooms featuring a mix of beds from two to ten. The development would rise between five and seven stories, set back, with a cafe or bar at the ground level and an extended basement. In an attached justification report supplied by John Spain Associates, they found that no other hostels are located within 500m of the site and only 13 within a 500m-1km radius of the site, but only three of these were south of Liffey. The Business Post, 15th June
South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2 The Wright Group has secured planning permission to turn Dylan McGrath’s former Rustic Stone restaurant in Dublin into a gastropub. The permission, granted by Dublin City Council to Mink Fusion Ltd, comes 10 months after both Rustic Stone and Brasserie Sixty Six, both located on South Great Georges Street, were shut down on the same day on August 15th 2024. Plans were lodged by Mink Fusion Ltd in February for the change of use application and the council delayed the project in April when it asked what the firm’s conservation proposals were for the property which is part of a Victorian commercial development dating from 1881. The most recent accounts for the Wright Group show that its pretax profits increased almost three-fold to €10.67m in the 12 months to the end of September 2023 as revenues surged by 38% to €49m. The group now employs over 700 people through a collection of over 24 restaurants, bars, food halls, cafes, event spaces and convenience retail. The Irish Times, 16th June
OFFICE
Glassworks, Waterford The flagship building of Ireland’s first university enterprise quarter was launched on the old Waterford Crystal manufacturing site this week. Building One at Glassworks will be the first milestone in what is expected to be a 37-acre enterprise and innovation campus that will feature world-class offices, strategically located beside the South East Technological University’s academic and research space facilities. Building One, with space for 800 employees and approx. 80,000 sq. ft, is being developed with a €43m investment by a joint venture formed between the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Frisby, the Waterford-based developers. According to Frisby, it is Waterford’s first purpose-built, A3-rated office building and will be followed by other equally sustainable office buildings on the 37-acre site. The Business Post, 14th June
Sandyford, Dublin 18 Knight Frank is guiding in excess of €2.39m (10% NIY) for three combined office suites in Sandyford Business District. They comprise numbers 15, 16 and 18 The Courtyard, on the intersection of Carmanhall Road and Ballymoss Road, located between the Luas green line station and Beacon South Quarter shopping centre. Sitting atop The Courtyard office development, their combined floor areas extend to a total gross internal area of 8,325 sq. ft. They have also been recently fully let to a subsidiary of Azets Ireland at a passing rent of €262,530 pa until March 2028. The property is held on two co-terminus three-year leases commencing in March 2025. The sale also includes 13 dedicated secure basement car-parking spaces. The Irish Independent, 12th June
Dublin Airport ESB International is moving out of its office at Dublin Airport and back into the city centre, it is understood. In 2017, the firm had relocated its head office and 500 staff to the then newly refurbished high-spec office at DAA’s Dublin Airport Central development. The location of the building, next to Terminal 2, was said at the time to have been a key reason for a company that has many overseas operations. But there is speculation that one of the reasons for the move back to a city centre location was that ESB International had found it difficult to encourage staff members who have been working at home since the end of the Covid pandemic to return to the office, and that it was felt this would be easier to achieve in a city-centre location. ESB International arrived in 2017 as the original anchor tenant at Dublin Airport Central. Two further buildings have since been built next to the original buildings and plans for two more will bring the overall scale of offices at the campus to over 430,000 sq. ft. It is understood that DAA has not yet received any formal notice from ESB International regarding a change in their tenancy. The Sunday Independent, 15th June
Mixed Use
EastPoint Business Park, Dublin 3 JLL are bringing two vacant buildings, Pinnacle 1 and Pinnacle 2, to the market at EastPoint Business Park. Pinnacle 1, which extends to 39,583 sq. ft, has just received a grant of planning permission for medical use and has 34 car spaces. Pinnacle 2 is a 109,372 sq. ft. office building with 70 car spaces. Both buildings provide modern specification and are rated B2. They were recently occupied by Google and Deutsche Bank. Price on application but both buildings are likely to be available at well below their replacement cost and provide high profile, good quality accommodation. They are also available to lease. JLL Press Release, 10th June
Fleet Street, Dublin 2 Colliers has completed the sale of the eight-storey mixed-use building, 48 Fleet Street, for a figure exceeding its €3.25m guide price. It is believed that the purchaser intends to apply for a change of use of its office floors to residential apartments as he has experience of similar conversions. Colliers noted that about two out of every three offers received were from prospective purchasers who wished to convert the upstairs floors to residential. The ground and basement levels are currently leased to Carrolls Irish Gifts Unlimited until 2033, generating €60,000 pa. Some of the office space is also generating income. The building is located near the Westmoreland St entrance to Temple Bar. The Irish Independent, 12th June
RESIDENTIAL/DEVELOPMENT
Jacob’s Island, Co. Cork The €750m development of Jacob’s Island into a neighbourhood-scale Cork city suburban destination picked up pace this week as work got underway to build 149 apartments. The latest phase in the ambitious multi-phase Mahon peninsula project follows on from the official opening last month of the Crawford Centre, an apartment block that delivered 69 social homes, a creche and three ground-floor retail units. The homes, built by OBR Construction on behalf of McCarthy Developments and approved housing body Respond, are already home to up to 200 tenants. Respond is also partnering on the 149-unit cost-rental scheme, which is expected to be completed in 27-31 months. It will bring the total number of homes on Jacob’s Island up to about 650. The Examiner, 12th June
Dundalk, Co. Louth Glenveagh Homes has challenged local councillors over the zoning of a prime residential development site, insisting the contentious plot remains earmarked for housing despite efforts to alter its status. In November, Louth councillors voted to de-zone the land for residential purposes and make it a “strategic reserve” in the Dundalk Local Area Plan. In March, councillors voted to confirm the de-zoning despite an intervention from the planning regulator. Glenveagh launched a judicial review of the decision in April. However, in Glenveagh’s latest planning application for 502 units, consultants said the Louth County Development Plan “takes precedence” over the Dundalk Local Area Plan. The site first got planning permission for 483 homes in 2019, but this expired at the beginning of the year. The Sunday Independent, 15th June
Other
Forestry Portfolio, Clare and Galway Lisney is seeking offers in excess of €5m for a significant forestry portfolio in Clare and Galway. Known as the Project West Forestry portfolio, it spans approx. 1,109 acres. The portfolio comprises nine properties, most of which are located in Co. Clare, with two in east Galway. The Co. Clare land accounts for about 70% of the total area, with the remainder in Galway. Sitka spruce represents around 75% of the forest cover, with ash accounting for 9%. The remainder includes a mix of mainly hardwood species such as oak, alder, and sycamore. Boosting Ireland’s forestry coverage is a goal of the Irish Government, through the Forestry Programme 2023–2027, which is supported by €308m in State aid. Its goal is to increase forest cover from the current 12% to 18% by 2027. The Irish Times, 11th June
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