3rd March (Issue 536)
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 Origin Kvika Deal Under Origin Capital’s strategic relationship with Kvika banki hf, Origin Capital recently arranged a two year, €6m, interest only facility, secured on a residential investment in Dublin. If you have a funding request for €2m+, please contact Ross Metcalfe at rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie Origin Capital, 3rd March
OFFICE
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 A group of private Irish investors is closing in on the purchase of Shelbourne House in Ballsbridge. The consortium is set to pay approx. €20m for the building. Should a deal proceed at that level, it would represent a 50% discount on the €40m paid by Quanta Capital in 2019. Located on a 0.7-acre site on Shelbourne Road between the Number One Ballsbridge office scheme and the high-end Lansdowne Place apartment development, Shelbourne House currently comprises a seven-storey office and apartment building extending to a total area of 76,079 sq. ft. Most of the offices are let and tenants include the Malaysian embassy, An Post and the OPW. The Irish Times, 25th February
Mount Street, Dublin 2 Finnegan Menton is guiding €2.75m for 44 Upper Mount Street together with a three-storey mews in office use at 44 James Place East. The property is being sold with the benefit of vacant possession. 44 Upper Mount Street extends to 6,665 sq. ft in total, with 5,035 sq. ft of this contained within the original Georgian building which includes a substantial single-storey extension. The mews building to the rear extends to a further 1,560 sq. ft, providing additional office accommodation over three floors. The rear mews and the modern single-storey extension comprises a site area of approximately 4,575 sq. ft. Planning permission to extend and redevelop the mews obtained in 2004, has lapsed, but points to alternative residential or mixed use. The Irish Times, 25th February
Ring Road, Co. Kilkenny Glanbia House on Kilkenny’s Ring Road is being offered for sale or to let by joint agents Bannon and FitzGerald Auctioneers. The guide price for the property, which is due to be vacated by Glanbia in the coming months, is €2.95m, while the quoting rent is €360,000 pa. Located 2.5km from Kilkenny’s city centre, the subject property comprises a two-storey building extending to a gross internal floor area of 23,864 sq. ft along with 88 surface car-parking spaces on a 3.3-acre site. The building, which dates from the mid-1990s, comprises a mix of open-plan and cellular offices together with nine meeting rooms and features a double-height glazed atrium reception space. The building underwent an extensive refurbishment both internally and externally between 2014 and 2017 and has a C2 BER rating. The Irish Times, 25th February
New Office HQ Requirement McCann FitzGerald has initiated a search for a new Dublin office in advance of the expiration of its lease in early 2032, on its current headquarters at Riverside One on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. It is understood that the firm has engaged Cushman & Wakefield to secure between 140,000 and 160,000 sq. ft of office space. A formal request for proposals (RFP) is expected to be circulated to agents, developers and other interested parties in the coming weeks. Its current headquarters at Riverside One is a 110,000 sq. ft, seven-storey property which was purpose built on behalf of the firm in 2006. Riverside One is owned in its entirety by IPUT who originally purchased a 70.8% stake in the property for €80.5m from Harcourt Life Assurance in 2015 followed by the remaining 29.2% in 2020 from Aviva for c.€37.5m. The Irish Times, 25th February
Dublin Office Rents Mason Hayes & Curran, which hired Savills to source c. 100,000 sq. ft of office space, has been told it will be required to pay up to 30% ahead of the market rate if it wants to relocate to a brand-new office block in Dublin city centre. Rates of up to €85 psf quoted to the law firm suggest that the revival of office construction in Dublin hinges on tenants being willing to pay premium rents significantly ahead of the current market rate. Last month CBRE said prime headline office rents were €65 psf while HWBC said €60 to €65 psf. Both agencies forecast that rents for high-grade office space in the city centre would reach €70 psf this year, while HWBC said rents need to rise to €75 to €80 psf to make shovel-ready new office blocks viable to build financially. The Business Post 25th February
Albert Quay, Cork South Docklands A US multinational is in advanced talks to lease the entire first floor of Navigation Square One (NSQ1), a landmark office building on Albert Quay, in Cork’s South Docklands. The building is already host to Jacobs Engineering. The Irish-based multinational engineering company has almost the entire second floor, apart from a 4,360 sq. ft suite, which is currently available to let through Lisney for €145,000 pa. NSQ1 is the largest of four blocks in Navigation Square, which it sold to French investors Corum for €60m in 2021. Financial services company Clearstream, part of the Deutsche Börse Group, is the other substantial tenant in the Corum-owned building. The Irish Examiner, 26th February
HOSPITALITY
Trim, Co Meath Joint agents Savills and Jones Lang LaSalle are guiding €20m – €30m for Knightsbrook hotel in Co Meath. The property has 134 bedrooms and a spa, and is located on a 185-acre site which includes a golf course designed by Christy O’Connor Jr. The Sunday Times, 28th February
Cork City Centre Planners have approved the Starstone Property Group build a €50m, 180-bedroom hotel at the junction of Lower Oliver Plunkett St and Connell St, opposite the site once earmarked for the now-shelved Prism office block. Construction work is due to begin in Q3 2026 on the 0.17-acre site to the rear of the former Eircom building, No 5 Lapps Quay. The five to 10-storey hotel will be run by the Ruby Hotel Group, a Munich-based hospitality company and hotel brand, acquired last year by the InterContinental Hotels Group . The group’s Cork project will involve the demolition of a vacant, two-storey commercial building, in an area described by planners as “underutilised”. The site adjoins seven-storey No 5 Lapps Quay which is directly across the river from City Hall. The Irish Examiner, 25th February
Lapps Quay, Cork City Lisney is guiding €1.45m for Tequila Jacks, a popular Mexican restaurant and tequila bar on the waterfront on Lapps Quay. The property, which forms part of a five-storey mixed-use development, is being sold as a going concern and includes a substantial floor area of 8,224 sq. ft over a single floor. Accommodation is laid out to include a public bar area to the front of the premises with a large function area /dining area to the rear and outdoor seating overlooking the quays. It also includes a fully equipped commercial kitchen, along with ancillary accommodation including customer toilet facilities, staff areas, cold rooms, storage, and service accommodation. The Irish Examiner, 26th February
MIXED USE
Old Blackrock Road, Co. Cork Lisney is guiding €1.9m for Paddy the Farmers, a licenced premises, along with nine self-contained overhead apartments. The property occupies a high-profile corner site at the junction of Summerhill South and the Old Blackrock Rd. Paddy the Farmers can be bought as Lot 1 for €600,000. Lot 2, the nine apartments, can be bought for €1.3m or Lot 3 is both Lot 1 and Lot 2 combined for €1.9m. The apartments currently generate around €140,000 in annual rental income. The Irish Examiner, 26th February
Kevin Street, Dublin 2 Completing the redevelopment of Camden Yard as a new headquarters for Dublin City Council and along with 299 apartments will cost c. €670m. The partially built office block will cost €90m to purchase, while €581m is expected to be spent on construction. Citing confidential council documents, the Irish Times is reporting the deal to buy the site on the former Dublin Institute of Technology building on Kevin Street is expected to be completed within the coming weeks. In 2021, developer Westridge Real Estate paid c.€145m for the site. Work on the development started in 2022 but stalled two years later. Receivers were appointed and in 2024, real estate firm BentallGreenOak took on the project. CBRE was appointed in 2025 guiding €80m for the property which will deliver 407,005 sq. ft of office space on the 3.57-acre site. The Business Post, 27th February
RETAIL
Mary Street, Dublin 1 Savills is guiding €2.95m for a retail investment property at No 39 Mary Street. Fully let to established Irish bookstore chain Dubray Books Ltd, it currently produces a total annual rent of €225,000 (6.94% NIY) and has seven years to lease expiry in March 2033. The 4,241 sq. ft property is adjacent to the Ilac Shopping Centre, opposite Jervis Shopping Centre and close to the Henry Street section of the high street. The property comprises plenty of retail trading space across both ground and first-floor levels to the front of the building, with goods and passenger lift access provided. There is ancillary storage, offices, bathrooms and a kitchenette located to the rear of the building. The Irish Independent, 26th February
RESIDENTIAL/DEVELOPMENT
Sandymount, Dublin 4 Gallagher Quigley is guiding €3.95m for a former nursing home in Sandymount. Previously known as Ailesbury Nursing Home, located at 58 Park Avenue, the 9,850 sq. ft property is currently laid out with 26 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms, five reception rooms, staff offices, break rooms and a commercial kitchen. Beyond the main residence, a separate single-story annex, to the rear, houses a modern plant room, along with additional storage and utility and staff-room space. It also benefits from both off-street and on-street parking. The Irish Independent, 26th February
Gardiner Street, Dublin 1 Colliers is guiding €5.25m for 38-39 Gardiner Street. Sold as a hostel for €1.8m in 2016, the property has returned to the market as a fully upgraded and operational serviced apartment business. Dublin Central Suites, as it is now known, comprises 22 modern, self-contained units; 14 studios and eight one-bedroom apartments, distributed across a pair of restored mid-terrace Georgian buildings. The property, which traded under the Sonder brand until last year, is being sold by its owner, as a going concern or with vacant possession. Each unit features a fully equipped kitchenette, ensuite bathroom, and dining and seating areas suited to both leisure and corporate stays. The guest accommodation is complemented by integrated workspaces and a reception area, along with laundry facilities, secure luggage storage, an office space and a rear yard with parking access. The Irish Times, 25th February
Quayside Quarter, Dublin North Docklands Greystar has selected a prospective purchaser, understood to be German investor Quantum Immobilien, for a deal to sell Quayside Quarter in Dublin’s north docklands for c.€180m. Greystar bought Quayside Quarter, which accommodates 268 apartments, in 2019 for c.€175m. In 2023 when it was brought to market, it was reported that the guide price then being sought was in the region of €200m. The fact that this is being bought by a new entrant to the Irish market is also seen as significant, as it is a further sign of the return of international investors to the Irish residential market following the Government’s rental reform legislation which is due to take effect in March. That will allow landlords to benefit from both the 2% per annum cap on rents and reset rents to market levels every six years. The Irish Independent 26th February
Avenue Capital, an American investment fund, paid €27.5m for a minority stake in DRes Holdings, the Irish construction firm. Recent filings with the companies show that Avenue has pumped fresh capital into DRes through a Luxembourg-based subsidiary. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission approved the investment late last month. The precise size of the stake acquired by Avenue has not been disclosed, but The Sunday Times understands that it is close to 20%, which could value the homebuilder at more than €80m. The most recent accounts for DRes show that in 2024 the company had revenue of €92m, up from €51.1m YoY. Avenue is in the middle of ramping up its activities in Ireland. As well as the purchase of DRes, it recently announced it would be backing at least €600m in fresh property lending. The Sunday Times, 28th February
OTHER
Dundalk, Co. Louth Data centre builder and operator Equinix is to create 200 jobs with an investment of up to €594m in Dundalk. The investment will be used to construct a 150,000 sq. ft advanced manufacturing facility, which will be built by local company Hanley Energy. The facility will serve as Equinix’s global hub for manufacturing specialised power equipment for data centres and AI-driven workloads. The facility will manufacture low-voltage switchgear, power distribution units, and remote power panels, all of which are critical components for power distribution in data centres. It will feature a temperature-controlled testing laboratory, the only one of its kind in Ireland or the UK. The company operates data centres in Dublin at Northwest Business Park, Citywest, Blanchardstown and Kilcarbery Park. Globally, its parent company, Equinix Inc, owns and operates 270 data centres in 75 locations. The Irish Times, 25th February
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