17th February (Issue 532)
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.
ORIGIN CAPITAL KVIKA FUNDING PARTNERSHIP
New Funding Partnership Origin Capital is proud to announce a strategic relationship with Kvika banki hf. This partnership allows Origin Capital to provide flexibly structured senior debt in the €2m – €15m range to Irish borrowers, backed by Kvika’s institutional capital base. With over €30m already deployed within this relationship, Origin Capital is scaling its lending activity and delivering certainty of execution for core and transitional assets. For further information please contact Ross Metcalfe at rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie Origin Capital Press Release, 12th February
HOSPITALITY
Donnybrook, Dublin 4 Savills is guiding €12m for the former St Mary’s Carmelite seminary. Located within a quiet cul-de-sac on Bloomfield Avenue and immediately adjacent to the Royal Hospital Donnybrook, St Mary’s comprises a four-storey Gothic-revival style building built in 1888 and extended in the 1940s. The property extends to 35,575 sq. ft, and consists of classrooms, meeting rooms, residential accommodation and a chapel. The building is a protected structure and sits on a 3.09-acre site. Having paid c. €16m in 2018, hoteliers Joe and Margaret Scally have abandoned a plan to develop a hotel on the site. The vendors secured planning permission, which has since lapsed, for the construction of a 163-bedroom hotel with basement parking. While a new owner might want to take advantage of the site’s positive planning history and submit a new planning application for a hotel, they may alternatively look at its potential for housing. Recognising this, the vendors commissioned a feasibility study in preparation for the site’s sale which suggests it could accommodate a scheme of 109 units. The Irish Times, 11th February
Leopardstown, Dublin 18 State agency Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is seeking talks with potential partners to build a hotel and sports or entertainment arena at Leopardstown Racecourse. HRI recently revealed that it was weighing both projects to underpin horse racing at the Dublin track and further tap the 260-acre venue’s potential. The organisation is seeking developers, investors and operators for pre-market consultations on the possibility of building the hotel and arena there, through Etenders, the State’s procurement website. Located less than 10km from Dublin city centre, close to the M50 motorway, Luas tram service and other public transport links, Leopardstown’s neighbours include Microsoft, Bank of America and numerous enterprises in a nearby businesses park. The track hosts racing on 23 days a-year. The Irish Times, 16th February
RETAIL
Athlone Towncentre, Co Westmeath Boots has become the latest major brand to join the line-up at Athlone Towncentre, signing a 10-year lease on a 3,500 sq. ft unit on the ground floor. It is expected to open for business alongside Marks & Spencer, Next, Zara, H&M, Sports Direct, River Island and JD Sports and the centre’s other occupiers in the second quarter of this year. The news of Boots’ arrival follows the recent opening by Australian jewellery brand, Lovisa, of its new 1,000 sq. ft store on the centre’s ground floor. Golden Discs, meanwhile has upsized and relocated from its original ground-floor unit to a new, 2,100 sq. ft store on the first floor which had previously been occupied by the Quiz clothing store. A number of lease renewals have also been agreed with existing occupiers, including clothing brands Regatta and Name It, both of which have committed to new five-year terms at improved rental levels. The Irish Times, 11th February
OFFICE
Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 The Business Post understands that Henderson Park is preparing to bring One Molesworth Street to market at a guide price of close to €110m. The property generates close to €6m a year in rental income. Tenants of the building include Barclays, The Banking Payment Federation of Ireland and TD Securities. The building’s weighted average unexpired lease term is 13.4 years with breaks at 7.6 years. The company, which acquired Green Reit for €1.34bn in late 2019, has a large Irish portfolio primarily in Dublin and Cork, with notable assets including One Molesworth Street and Horizon Industrial Park near Dublin Airport. Last year, Henderson Park put its Horizon Logistics Park in Swords on the market at a guide price of €550m, which would be the largest logistics deal in Irish history. In November, it sought second round bids for the business park portfolio, which comprised 1.8m sq. ft of logistics space and 200 acres of zoned development land. Last month, it was reported that GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, was closing in on a €500m deal for the Horizon Logistics Park in Swords. The Business Post, 13th February
Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2 State Street is finalising a deal to relocate its Dublin headquarters to 2 Grand Canal Quay (“2GCQ”), the new 15-storey office building developed in the city’s south docklands. The company is understood to have agreed heads of terms on an agreement for between 59,998 sq. ft and 79,997 sq. ft of space. The proposed lease is for 15 years with a break option in year 12 at a rent in the region of €60 psf. 2GCQ is a 15-storey building comprising 144,990 sq. ft of grade A office space. The property boasts panoramic city and waterfront views and is complemented by a triple-height entrance lobby with its own cafe, a landscaped 10th-floor roof terrace and a double-height penthouse atrium. 2GCQ is highly sustainable with target credentials that include an A2 Ber rating. 40% of the property’s total energy requirements are supplied by on-site renewable energy via solar and heat-pump technologies. The Irish Times, 11th February
MIXED USE
Ashtown, Dublin 15 Village Centre and River Centre in Ashtown have sold for €7.3m. Robert Colleran had been quoting €8.5m for the Ashtown investment which comprises 15 units in The Village Centre and nine units in the River Centre. Its range of retail, office, hospitality and healthcare tenants include The Lock Keeper Bar and Geisha restaurant, Unicare pharmacy, Spar convenience store, Giraffe crèche, Phoenix Dental, the Run Hub, McDonnell & Co solicitors, Brennan Property Consultants, Kilo, Eurostar, Reba hair and beauty, T2 barber rooms and Phoenix skin care. Between them they were generating more than €800,000 in annual rents. The Irish Independent, 12th February
Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 Robert Colleran sold 37 Harcourt Street and 11 Harcourt Street for €3.4m and €1m respectively. 37 Harcourt Street, a 4,944 sq. ft protected building in four storeys over-basement was sold with full vacant possession. It is laid out for a restaurant in shell and core condition on the ground floor and basement, and eight apartments which are in walk-in condition with kitchens and bathroom. 11 Harcourt St which had been occupied on the ground floor and basement floor by Donnelly Leathers. The upper floors are let to Academic Bridge which operates a language school. An industrial unit to its rear, which has planning permission for conversion to offices, was not included in the sale. The Irish Independent, 12th February
INDUSTRIAL
Naas, Co. Kildare Palm Logistics has reached practical completion of four new high-bay and light-industrial units at Momentum Logistics Park. The units, which together extend to a total area of 122,000 sq. ft, have all been placed under offer. Palm Logistics has also secured planning permission for a further 400,000 sq. ft of high-bay logistics space at the park, with several new buildings already under construction and additional phases totalling 200,000 sq. ft due to go for planning approval this year. Momentum Logistics Park, known originally as Naas Enterprise Park, sits on more than 250 acres, was acquired by Palm Capital and KKR in 2021 as part of their wider €195m purchase of the Core industrial portfolio. Since then, Palm Logistics has been involved in a €100m regeneration programme. The master plan for Momentum Logistics Park includes the development of more than 850,000 sq. ft of logistics and warehousing space across seven zoned sites, offering occupiers the opportunity to secure flexible, custom-built grade-A accommodation ranging in size from 8,000 sq. ft to 500,000 sq. ft. The Irish Times, 11th February
Dublin Industrial and Logistics Review A strong recovery in Dublin industrial and logistics showed in 2025, with take-up rising sharply and prime rents increasing, according to Savills Ireland’s Dublin Industrial and Logistics Review. Total take-up reached 2.39m sq. ft across 70 deals in 2025, an increase of 81% on the previous year, although still 10% below the five-year average. Activity accelerated in the final quarter of the year, with 782,000 sq. ft transacted across 24 deals, the highest number of transactions recorded in a single quarter since Q3 2022. Supply also increased with completions totalling 1.48m sq. ft in 2025, well above the five-year average, driven by speculative development and a catch-up in delivery following limited construction during the previous cycle. As a result, the vacancy rate edged up from 1.7% to 2.5%. Prime rents rose by €1 psf over the year to €14 psf, reflecting strong demand for best-in-class units. Newly constructed and refurbished units under 30,000 sq. ft achieved rents of up to €20 psf, highlighting the pricing power of high-quality stock amid rising construction costs. Third-party logistics operators re-emerged as the dominant source of demand almost tripling take-up from 13% in 2024 to 37% in 2025. The Irish Independent, 12th February
RESIDENTIAL/DEVELOPMENT
Dalkey, Co. Dublin An Coimiúsin Pleanála (ACP) has refused planning permission to Bartra to construct a five-storey, 104-unit nursing home on lands at Yonder, Ulverton Rd and Harbour Rd. Marking the end of a marathon nursing home planning battle dating back to January 2021 when plans were first lodged. ACP has refused planning permission to Bartra as the main access road for the nursing home “would have insufficient capacity to safely accommodate the intensified level of vehicular movements generated by the proposed development”. The ruling reverses a grant of permission issued by the then An Bord Pleanála (ABP) in July 2023. Some residents have been engaged in a planning battle with Bartra concerning the Yonder site since October 2018 when the developers lodged plans for an apartment scheme for the site. ABP granted planning permission in 2019 for 18 apartments and six houses despite the opposition. However, that planning permission has now expired. The Irish Independent, 11th February
Ballyogan, Dublin 18 Savills is guiding €3.5m for a 1.19 acre site located at Ballyogan Road near The Park retail park. It is a ready-to-go development opportunity with full planning permission for 49 apartments comprising one three-bedroom apartment; 29 two-bed units and 19 one-bed units, each with private balconies/terraces. The permission also includes a 20-space surface car-park. The various unit types extend to an average floor area of 563 sq. ft for one-bed units, 904 sq. ft for two-bed units and 1,317 sq. ft for the three-bed unit. These would be spread between two apartment blocks of four storeys each. The Irish Independent, 12th February
Dublin Housing The number of proposed residential units with planning permission constructed or being built in the Dublin area increased by nearly 25% over the last year, new figures to be published on Monday will show. The report on the pipeline of housing activity in Dublin will maintain that at the end of the third quarter last year, there were 35,864 houses and apartments with planning permission which were built or where construction activity was under way. There were nearly 44,500 units, apartments and houses, with planning permission on which there was no activity taking place. However, the report notes that the number of units with planning permission that were “active” increased by more than 24% YoY. The number of inactive units with planning permission was down nearly 10%. The Irish Times, 16th February
OTHER
College Green, Dublin 2 The design of the €80m College Green civic plaza has been revealed by Dublin City Council, almost eight years since the last plaza plans were rejected by ABP. The council has opened public consultation on the revamped and extended traffic-free plaza scheme in advance of lodging a fresh application to ACP this summer. The new project, Grow College Green, will see traffic banned from the area west of the Luas lines in front of Trinity College, as far as the junction with Dame Street and South Great George’s Street. The area, extending 183,000 sq. ft, would be a “pedestrian priority” public space, the council said, crossed by defined cycle paths. The new designs focus on climate resilience and “greening” with 75 new trees and 15,069 sq. ft of landscaped areas it said. The Irish Times, 11th February
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