23rd September (Issue 515)
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
Elmpark, Dublin 4 TWM, on behalf of the Aviva Irish Commercial Property Fund, is guiding €18.5m for Block A. That price represents a 34% reduction on the €28m which had had been sought when Block A was offered for sale previously in March 2020. Block A comprises a modern seven-storey office building extending to a NIA of approx. 72,000 sq. ft with an adjoining smaller building (known as the Annex), extending to a gross area of 10,000 sq. ft. There are 76 secure basement car-parking spaces included in the sale. Willis Tower Watson Insurances Ltd has a lease on four floors (60% of the building) and is paying approx. €1.2m in rent. There are two vacant floors extending to 29,000 sq. ft. The entire property is currently generating total annual rental income of €1.32m. The Irish Times, 17th September
Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2 Savills is guiding €9.2m for 1 Grants Row, which extends to approx. 15,125 sq. ft over four storeys and basement. It is fully let to law firm Flynn O’Driscoll at a passing rent of €739,035 pa (NIY of 7.31%) and a WAULT of just under 6 years. It also comes with 10 secure underground car-parking spaces. In 2015, the Irish Times reported that Aviva Life & Pensions Irish property fund bought it for €8.3m. It currently holds a BER rating of B3, with a pathway to achieve an A3 rating. The Irish Independent, 18th September
Citywest, Dublin 24 1012-1014 Kingswood Avenue has come to the market through Savills guiding €7.5m. The campus comprises three two-storey blocks with a combined total floor area of 76,314 sq. ft (less than €100 psf). Individual floor areas range in size from 11,522 sq. ft up to 13,575 sq. ft and their layouts allow for flexible subdivision, by block, by floor, or part-floor, supporting both single-occupier HQ or multi-let asset strategies. Originally constructed in 2001 as a purpose-built HQ for SAP, who occupied it until 2022, the property extends to approximately 4.44 acres. Each block has its own access and they offer a mix of open-plan space, private offices and meeting rooms, anchored by a large canteen with a fully fitted commercial kitchen. The Irish Independent, 18th September
Morehampton Road, Dublin 4 Brenson Lawlor House, a fully fitted HQ office building at Argyle Square, just off Morehampton Road, is being offered for sale or to let by Avison Young at a guide price of €2m and a quoting rent of €200,000. Having served as its home since its construction in 1990, PKF Brenson Lawlor has doubled its staff numbers over the past five years and is relocating to larger offices in Ballsbridge next month. The property comprises a two-storey over-basement office property, extending to 6,410 sq. ft, together with five car-parking spaces. The building is fully fitted and furnished and includes a mix of open-plan and private office accommodation. Avison Young expects to see enquiries from various parties including owner-occupiers, investors, serviced-office providers, refurbishment or repurposing specialists, as well as tenants seeking turnkey office accommodation. The Irish Times, 17th September
Maynooth Business Campus, Co Kildare Sherry FitzGerald Brady O’Flaherty is guiding €4m for unit K8 at Maynooth Business Campus. The entire building is let to two international companies, on two 10-year leases from Q3 2022 and is generating a current combined annual rent of €356,608, which equates to a gross yield of 8.9%. Developed by Montane, the office building extends to 17,294 sq. ft over two floors and was completely refurbished to a very high energy efficient standard in 2022. It comes with 28 surface car parking spaces. The Irish Independent, 18th September
Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2 Having paid €230m in 2015 to acquire Meta’s original headquarters at 4/5 Grand Canal Square, Union Investment has commenced work on a substantial redevelopment of the south docklands scheme. The construction works, which are being led by Walls, are expected to take 18 months to complete, and will cost approx. €70m. The redevelopment is getting under way just over two years after Meta vacated the building. Upon completion, 4/5 Grand Canal Square will comprise some 250,000 sq. ft of office and amenity space, all of which will target an A3 BER rating. The German investor estimates that the Grand Canal Square project will result in an 80% reduction in carbon emissions on that of a comparable new build. This will be achieved through the reuse of the existing structure and materials. The completed redevelopment will be powered entirely using wind power. 4/5 Grand Canal Square is currently the only speculative office scheme due to be completed in 2027. The Irish Times, 17th September
Clonskeagh, Dublin 14 Cushman & Wakefield is guiding a price of €1.85m for 2B Clonskeagh Square, a self-contained office building on Clonskeagh Road. The property comprises a two-storey block, extending to a gross internal area of 8,290 sq. ft (€223 psf) along with 33 dedicated surface car-parking spaces. The office is laid out in an open-plan configuration, with canteen and WC facilities on the ground and first floor, along with a number of offices. Clonskeagh Square backs on to UCD’s main Belfield campus and the area is home to a number of big employers including the EPA, Flutter Entertainment, Sims Fertility Clinic and Smurfit Westrock. The Irish Times, 17th September
South Docklands New filings for Claypole Limited, Axa’s holding company for its commercial property interests in Ireland, show it booked a €12.2m loss last year linked to volatility it has faced in the market. The company recorded a 10% valuation hit to its office portfolio in 2024, which has fallen down to a value of €50.7m. At the end of 2021, the firm’s office assets had a peak value of more than €96.6m. A note in the directors’ report for the company said the losses for 2024 were linked to State Street’s plans to vacate the Sir John Rogerson’s Quay block. Axa’s asset management business controls close to 400,000 sq. ft of office space in Dublin with joint partners Kennedy Wilson. Properties in the portfolio include 78 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, which spans close to 174,655 sq. ft, and offices which form part of the mixed-use Capital Dock development Kennedy Wilson built with Nama. The Business Post, 20th September
MIXED-USE
Fade Street, Dublin 2 Number 17 Fade Street is guiding €2m through Knight Frank. Extending to approx. 3,000 sq. ft, the four-storey-over-basement redbrick has undergone a restoration, including roof works and new timber sash windows. Its ground and basement levels are occupied by Sitstil, a hair salon on a 25-year lease producing €52,000 pa while the upper floors comprise two spacious two-bedroom apartments and a one-bedroom loft apartment with vacant possession. With a projected total rental income in the region of €155,000, the property offers investors a potential NIY of approx. 7%. The Business Post, 16th September
RETAIL
Drury Street, Dublin 2 33 Drury Street is on offer through Knight Frank, guiding at €675,000. The compact, three-storey-over-basement premises spans approx. 1,050 sq. ft and is home to John Farrington Antiques. The business is secured on a lease running until 2038, generating €42,000 annually and reflecting a NIY of 5.7%, with room for rental growth. The Business Post, 16th September
Residential/Development
Naas Road, Dublin 12 The former headquarters of John Sisk looks set to be demolished and replaced by hundreds of new homes following the sale of the property by BNP Paribas for €5.25m to an Irish developer. The Wilton Works site contains the original two-storey office building occupied by John Sisk since 1964, along with an interlinked, modern three-storey Grade A office building which was constructed in 2002. The total combined floor area extends to a gross internal area of 38,578 sq. ft together with 96 on-site car parking spaces. The development has a C3 BER rating. Although the office buildings remain suitable for use, any occupation is likely to be on a short-term basis while the new owner seeks planning permission for a residential development on the 2.43 acre Wilton Works site. The Irish Times, 17th September
Shankhill, Dublin 18 Lurganbrae, a period residence on a 1.7 acre site located on the Old Dublin Road, is guiding €2.25m through Lisney. The site offers the potential to accommodate between 26 and 41 new homes (subject to planning permission), according to a feasibility study prepared by EML Architects. The site is zoned “Objective A” under the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan 2022-2028. The aim of this designation is to “provide residential development and improve residential amenity while protecting existing residential amenities”. Lurganbrae is located about 1.5km from Shankill village. The Irish Times, 17th September
Terenure, Dublin 6 An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) has granted planning permission to Granbrind Terenure Ltd for a 60 unit apartment block scheme despite opposition from local residents. The 1.18 acre site on Rathfarnham Road houses an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, which has occupied the plot since 1952. ACP has granted planning permission after concluding that the scheme “would provide for a compact and sustainable form of urban development at a highly accessible location”. A letter lodged with the application on behalf of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation stated it fully supported the application. The ACP inspector said that the synagogue building “is not a protected structure and has not been assessed as being of architectural or historical significance and is unsuitable for repurposing and reuse”. The Irish Times, 17th September
Dublin City Council The Peter McVerry Trust (PMVT) is transferring dozens of apartments and houses, worth almost €8m, to DCC under a deal to repay €15m of Government funding that kept the charity afloat when it was struck by financial crisis. The properties, some of which already have residents living in them, will be used for social housing. PMVT properties, used for its housing and homeless services, were valued at €162.33m at the end of 2022. The rescue package was agreed on the basis that the Government would recover the value of the €15m with the transfer of “unencumbered” properties to local authorities from the PMVT. The Department of Housing said: “PMVT own 54 such properties and 27 of these properties, with a total value of €7.9m, are in the process of being transferred to DCC.” The remaining 27 properties were being prepared for transfer to local authorities elsewhere, the department added. “When all such properties are transferred from PMVT to the local authorities the State will have recovered the €15m of emergency funding,” the department said. “For privacy reasons we do not give specific address identifiers but I can advise they are located in Dublin 3, 8, 12, 7, 11,” according to a spokesperson. The Irish Times, 17th September
Q2 Planning Permission There was a decrease of 12.5% (8,513 to 7,447) in the total number of dwelling units approved for planning permission in the second quarter, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office. Houses accounted for 63% of all dwellings granted permission, while apartments made up the balance. The number of houses granted permission fell by 6.4% when compared with last year, while apartment approvals – seen as a crucial element in solving the housing crisis, decreased by 21.4%. The number of multi-development houses that got planning permission declined by 7.5% annually, from 3,852 units to 3,565. Across the four local authorities in Dublin, there was an annual decline of 35.5% in the total number of dwelling units approved. The Irish Times, 16th September
OTHER
Blarney Business Park, Co. Cork Merck, the German science and technology company, has opened a new €150m filtration manufacturing facility at Blarney Business Park. The site is Merck’s first manufacturing facility designed for full climate-neutral operations, powered entirely by renewable electricity. The approx. 33,000 sq. ft facility, which will produce filtration products used in the manufacturing of therapies including vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and new modalities such as cell and gene therapies, will create up to 200 jobs by 2028.The Blarney facility is part of Merck’s largest life science investment to date in Ireland, with €440m committed across its Cork operations in Blarney and Carrigtwohill. The Business Post, 18th September
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