Liberties, Dublin 8 German investor Deka Immobilien Investment has returned to the acquisition trail in Dublin with a deal for a new hotel in the city’s Liberties area. According to market sources Deka has agreed to pay c. €36m on a forward-commitment basis to secure ownership of the property. Upon completion in 2023, the new hotel will comprise 151 bedrooms along with three retail units. The hotel, which has been pre-let on a long-term lease to Premier Inn, forms part of the wider Newmarket Yards mixed-use scheme. The development will also include 413 apartments along with associated amenities. Newmarket Yards is being delivered by Carey Issuer, a company owned by Bain Capital. The Irish Times, 14th December
Clontarf Castle, Dublin 3 Turnover at Clontarf Castle, the four-star hotel, remained at only one-third of pre-pandemic levels last year, even as the business began rebuilding after a Covid-struck 2020. Accounts filed by Clontarf Castle Limited show that revenues grew slightly in 2021, rising to €4.96m from €4.1m the year before. At the end of 2021, the company had made an after-tax profit of €541k, the accounts showed, up from €334.4k in the previous year. In 2019, turnover at the business came to €12.5m, while its profits after tax totalled €3.1m. Clontarf Castle is owned by Tifco, the country’s second largest hotel operator, which has c. 3k bedrooms around the country. The Business Post, 16th December
Smithfield, Dublin 7 Lender GWM Group has refinanced a new hotel in Dublin with a €58.5m loan. The facility, from GWM’s Commercial Real Estate Debt Opportunities fund (Credo), replaces a construction loan sponsor JMK Group used to deliver a 249-room Hampton by Hilton-branded hotel in the city centre. React News, 19th December
Sandyford, South Dublin Singapore-headquartered real estate investment trust Mapletree has achieved 96% occupancy at its Nova Atria office scheme at Sandyford in south Dublin. Avant Money has signed a 10-year lease for 10,527 sq. ft on the penthouse floor of the development’s north block. The remaining 11,000 sq. ft of office accommodation on this level is in the process of being refurnished and will be available for occupation in spring 2023. Acquired by Mapletree for €167m in 2019, the Sandyford scheme comprises a total of 339,000 sq. ft of space distributed across two six-storey blocks, Nova Atria North and South. The rent agreed for the office scheme is understood to have been between €55 and €60 per sq. ft. The Irish Times, 14th December
Dublin Mason Hayes & Curran (MHC) is weighing up options for a new 140k sq. ft office in Dublin. MHC has mandated Savills to review potential sites in the centre of the Irish capital that can accommodate between 120k sq. ft and 140k sq. ft. React News, 14th December
Fairview, Dublin 3 Dublin City Council has approved plans for a 118-unit apartment scheme for Fairview on Dublin’s north-side despite some local opposition. The council has given the green light to Banner A Cuig Ltd for the three-block scheme, with two blocks rising to five storeys, under the new Large-scale Residential Development (LRD) planning process at a site at Fairview Strand and Esmond Avenue. The scheme comprises 57 one-bedroom units; 55 two-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units. The plan also includes an additional four units through the reinstatement of two homes at 61 and 63 Fairview Strand. Third parties can now appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanála. The Irish Times, 16th December
Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Report The government should defer stamp duty for investors looking to retrofit and flip properties in order to address “alarming” low levels of refurbishment, a new CIOB report has said. The paper outlined that property investors are “quite receptive” to changes to stamp duty and deferring the payment could encourage institutional funds to fix up older, less energy-efficient stock. Ireland’s built environment, which includes buildings, utilities infrastructure and transportation systems, contributes c. 40% of Irish carbon emissions. Within that sector, residential housing accounts for 43% of emissions, meaning homes account for 16% of national emissions. The government has previously used stamp duty changes to limit investor activity in the housing market. Since May 2021, investors who buy more than ten homes in a year are subject to a 10% stamp duty rate, instead of 1%. The Business Post, 17th December
Macquarie, the Australian bank, has established a €100m fund to buy homes in Ireland, new financial documents have shown. Broadstone Housing Investments Limited, an Irish entity controlled by the bank, has already started to use the funds to acquire second-hand homes in Carlow. The properties were sold to the Macquarie entity by Peppard Investments. The document added that the €100m would be put towards property acquisitions. It said more than €3.4m had been drawn down from the fund so far. The Business Post, 17th December
Irish Mortgage Arrears Central Bank of Ireland figures show the number of principal dwelling house (PDH) accounts behind in their payments fell by 342 in the third quarter of 2022, following a decline of 2,071 accounts in the previous quarter. At the end of September, c. 4.3% of all PDH mortgage accounts were in arrears of at least 90 days, representing 30,809 mortgage accounts. The total number of accounts in arrears was 45,746. The figures, however, show the number of cases of arrears of less than 90 days rose by 494 to 14,937. The outstanding balance on PDH mortgage accounts in arrears of more than 90 days equated to €6bn, equivalent to 6% of the total outstanding balance on all such mortgage accounts. Accounts in long-term mortgage arrears, behind for more than a year, accounted for 52% of all accounts in arrears but they also declined by 998 over the quarter. 16% of Irish home loans were in the hands of nonbank entities as of the end of the reporting period. The figures showed that 74% of PDH mortgages in arrears for over a year were held by nonbank entities. The Irish Times, 16th December
Rialto, Dublin 8 Fire safety defects have been detected throughout the Herberton apartment complex in Dublin’s Rialto, with remedial works required for up to 500 homes at an expected cost of several million euro. The large-scale estate of apartments and houses, built on the site of the Dublin City Council flat complex Fatima Mansions, is one of the largest city council regeneration projects to date, and among the few to have continued construction throughout the collapse of the property sector in the last recession. It has emerged in recent days that a block of apartments, sold by US real estate firm Kennedy Wilson to the council, requires “extensive” fire safety works, according to the council. Housing association Cluid has now confirmed fire defects have also been detected in blocks it owns and manages in Herberton, while managing agents for the complex say fire safety works have been required throughout the estate. The Irish Times, 16th December
Montrose, Dublin 4 Dublin City Council has granted planning permission to Cairn Homes for a major mixed-use development on former RTÉ lands at Montrose in Dublin 4, conditional on the developer paying c. €10m to the local authority. The decision, which comes more than five years after the company bought the eight-acre site from RTÉ for €107.5m, followed a lengthy process in which Cairn Homes was required to lodge a revised application in October. Cairn submitted the revised application for an even larger scheme, looking to build 688 apartments comprising 416 build-to-rent apartments and 272 build-to-sell units, a 192-bedroom hotel, 17 “age-friendly living” units and a creche facility, among other amenities across 10 blocks. Cairn is required to pay a €9.9m development contribution to the authority “in respect of the public infrastructure and facilities benefiting” the development in the area. The decision is likely to be appealed. The Irish Times, 15th December
Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 The purchaser of 72 residential units in Dublin city centre is seeking €1.1m in compensation from a developer over an alleged delay in meeting certain requirements to have the properties ready by the closing of the sale, the Commercial Court has heard. Patrizia Grand Canal SARL bought the units, along with two commercial units, at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay from TIO South Docks Fund II Ltd under a €51.4m contract for sale in 2019. Patrizia says the defendant was obliged to have certain “completion deliverables” in place by last February but failed to do so and the properties were not ready until July 14th. The completion deliverables included certificates of building compliance, HomeBond certs, and the safety file for the works. The Irish Times, 19th December
The Citywest Transit Hub for refugees will be closed for new entrants over Christmas and Ukrainians thinking of travelling to Ireland have been asked to consider waiting until the new year. Ireland’s refugee reception system has been under huge pressure with more than 50k people from Ukraine and 18k asylum seekers from other countries being accommodated by the State. Many Ukrainians have made other accommodation arrangements and the number of people who have fled to Ireland from the Russian invasion of their homeland is expected to reach more than 70k by the end of the year. The Citywest Transit Hub in Dublin is used to process new arrivals before they are offered accommodation elsewhere in the country. The Irish Times, 16th December
Emergency Housing for Children The State child and family agency has been spending more than €500k a week housing children in hotel rooms, rented properties or other emergency placements, figures show. Emergency placements are used where a child is taken into State care and there is no available space in a residential or foster home, or where a previous care placement breaks down due to behavioural issues. Figures show in a number of cases Tusla is spending more than €1m a year on emergency arrangements to house some young people in care. There were 48 young people living in emergency placements in mid-November. That included 24 young people placed in rented accommodation, five in hotels, and 19 in other arrangements, such as an Airbnb letting or a Tusla property. The annual cost of the emergency placements was c. €800k per child, twice as high as the cost to house a child in a privately-run residential group home. Tusla’s internal analysis estimated the agency will spend c. €30m on emergency placements this year. The Irish Times, 19th December
Data Centres, Ireland A total of 21 new data centres are planned outside the Greater Dublin Area following the moratorium on new developments near the capital due to constraints on the energy grid. Major energy and technology companies have approached Eirgrid, the national grid operator, with plans to build 16 new, large-scale data centres, while a further five smaller-scale data centre projects are being discussed with ESB Networks, which handles connections for less significant developments. As part of the moratorium, Eirgrid and the CRU also mandated that any future developments must be built with on-site power generation to minimise their impact on the national grid. The Business Post, 17th December
Saggart, Co Dublin The owner of the Citywest hotel complex in west Dublin plans to build a large cemetery on the nearby site of former golf club lands. The 8,047-plot burial ground would be worth at least €20m, based upon the price of plots in other cemeteries in the area. Cape Wrath Hotel controlled by Tetrarch Capital, the owner of the Citywest complex, has submitted a planning application to South Dublin County Council (SDCC) for the proposed scheme. The proposed scheme also includes an office and reception building and 110 car-parking spaces. It is the second cemetery proposal from Tetrarch in recent months, following its submission of a plan for a smaller 5,806-plot facility adjacent to the Deep Park Hotel in Howth, where the company also wants to build a new hotel. The Irish Times, 15th December
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
Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 The Murtagh family is poised to buy Buswells Hotel in Dublin City Centre for c. €22m. It is understood that the family has been in exclusive negotiations to buy the hotel for a number of weeks. The last accounts for the business filed in the Companies Office indicate that the hotel made a loss of €1.1m in 2020. The company was budgeting positive earnings last year. It made a profit of €900k in 2019. The Sunday Times, 11th December
Fade Street, Dublin 2 The landlord of the Market Bar in Dublin City Centre has objected to a proposed 280 sq. ft. expansion of the venue on the grounds that it would turn the popular venue into a “super-pub”. In September, Mercroft Taverns Limited, which operates the bar on Fade Street and the adjacent Chelsea Drugstore on South Great George’s Street, sought permission from Dublin City Council to open a new “tasting room” in the venue. The room, which would have space for ten people, would be created in part of a retail unit in the George’s Street Arcade that backs onto the current Market Bar premises. The Dublin city development plan has specifically outlined that so-called “super-pubs will be discouraged”. In November, the council gave the operators of the Market Bar permission to proceed with the tasting room on the basis that it “will likely create more variety and vibrancy within the premises”. The planning board is expected to make a decision on the expansion by April 2023. The Business Post, 10th December
Licensed Property Market To date in 2022, there have been 27 pubs sold in Dublin with a capital value of just over €91m, slightly ahead of the figures for 2021, when 23 pubs changed hands with a capital value of €85.65m, according to John Ryan of Bagnall Doyle MacMahon. The start of the year witnessed a brisk level of activity highlighted in particular with the completion of the sale of the TP Smith portfolio (The Auld Dubliner, The Norseman, TP Smith’s, Laguna and The 44) for a sum that was undisclosed, but is speculated to have been €34m. While activity in the second half of the year slowed considerably, the remaining two pubs in the Quinn Hospitality portfolio – JW Sweetman, Burgh Quay and The Barge, Charlemont Street – were offered for sale in the autumn, with JW Sweetman purchased for more than €5m while The Barge, at the “contract-signed, awaiting-closing stage”, achieved just below the guide price of €3.7m. There are several other pub sales either sale agreed and close to signing or at an advanced stage of the negotiating process. There are, however, some concerns on the horizon, such as the rapidly rising energy costs, food and beverages cost increases, skilled staff shortages and rising interest rates. The Irish Times, 7th December
Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre in Dublin City Centre is poised for a large expansion that will add two storeys to the existing structure, reducing the existing retail space and introducing offices. The investment will likely run to well in excess of €100m. A fund operated by the stockbroker and wealth manager Davy is preparing to submit a planning application for the redevelopment. Davy had been expected to redevelop the centre after paying a reported €175m for it on behalf of clients in 2019. The extension will bring the size of the building to just under 1m sq. ft of space, from c. 770k sq. ft. Shops, restaurants and cafés will occupy the ground and first-floor levels. Retail space will be reduced to 205,000 sq. ft, while there will also be a drop in the space given to existing cafés, restaurants and bars. More than 375,000 sq. ft will be offices. The owner also intends to reduce the number of car parking spaces by 138 to 551. The Sunday Times, 11th December
Retail Sector Rising prices, inflation and higher energy costs have impacted retailers and consumers alike during 2022, according to Eoin Feeney of Colliers. Consumer sentiment has fallen sharply, but we have not seen a significant corresponding decline in retail sales, which are still well above February 2020 (pre-Covid) levels. Covid, Brexit and UK company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) combined over 2020 and 2021 created an unprecedented spike in Irish retail vacancy levels. The hardest hit was the high-street sector. This time last year, 16 units (11% of total retail floor space) were vacant on Grafton Street. A host of leasing transactions during the year has brought vacancy down to a current level of six units (5.4% of retail floor space). Henry/Mary Street is lagging behind its southside counterpart and vacancy issues still exist. One of the largest retail buildings in Dublin city centre, the former Debenhams department store, remains shuttered. Vacancy here has fallen from a peak of 11 units (22% of retail floor space) to a current level of eight units (19% of retail floor space). Footfall has strongly rebounded in the main shopping centres and in many cases has exceeded pre-pandemic levels. This has been a record year for take-up in the larger suburban schemes with numerous major space user and anchor lettings or announcements. Rental growth will be a feature in many retail property subsectors in 2023. This is inevitable as strong occupier demand leads to competition between retailers to secure the limited number of better located and configured retail opportunities. The Irish Times, 7th December
Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 Flannels, owned by Frasers Group, is set to open its first store in Ireland, at Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin. The new space occupies 30,000 sq. ft and is located at the former Debenhams area on the ground floor. Flannels’ opening follows the recent unveiling of global brand Zara’s biggest store in Ireland, also at Blanchardstown Centre, which spans 52,000 sq. ft of retail space. React News, 12th December
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Meta has decided not to occupy Fibonacci Square in Dublin and will sublet 375,000 sq. ft of the development as part of a scaling back of plans for its European headquarters. The company had signed a 25-year lease on the development at the former AIB headquarters but has now instructed agents to sublet the blocks. Meta already occupies another part of the Ballsbridge campus and has begun moving staff there from its Grand Canal office building. The Business Post, 8th December
Office Market Significant increases in employment over the last two years along with the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions at the beginning of the year, resulted in a strong recovery in occupier activity, with take-up for 2022 on course to reach 2.5m sq. ft – equalling the market’s 10-year average according to Declan O’Reilly of Knight Frank. Demand for new space in city-centre locations led the way in 2022 as occupiers increasingly recognised the need to meet ESG targets and to create best-in-class workplace environments to attract and retain talent. In terms of supply, there were considerable delays with the delivery of space between 2020-2022, with some of those delayed schemes due to come to the market in 2023 – 2.1m sq. ft of space will be delivered in the city centre, of which 31% is pre-let. The combination of more cautious demand and additional supply is expected to place some downward pressure on prime rents, which are likely to slip to €65 per sq. ft throughout 2023. The Irish Times, 7th December
Rathcoole, Co Dublin The developers behind Dublin’s Greenogue Logistics Park have secured the largest, single industrial transaction of the year with an agreement to pre-let a new purpose-built warehouse to Irish-listed healthcare group, Uniphar. The new facility, which is being developed by Castlebrowne on behalf of Jordanstown Properties, will, upon completion, comprise 322,000 sq. ft of area. The Irish Times, 7th December
Housing Applications, Ireland Up to 35k homes are being held up in the planning system due to delays at An Bord Pleanála, according to figures from the Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA). No decision on strategic housing developments (SHDs) has been made since the end of October, after the board’s chairman took early retirement. Under regulations, the remaining four active board members are not allowed to make decisions on SHDs or strategic infrastructure developments. Since July, the board has decided on 563 cases, compared with 1,034 in the same period last year. The Sunday Times, 11th December
Housing Commencements There has been a decline in the number of new homes started over the past year. The rate of new homes being built on a rolling 12-month basis reached a high of 34.8k in March this year but has been in decline ever since. The number of new homes being built on a rolling 12-month basis fell to 27k at end of November 2022, compared to 30.5k this time last year. Despite the annual decline, the MoM drop off in new homes being commenced was reversed in November, when more than 2.5k new homes were started. Notices filed by developers with the Building Control Management System (BCMS), which are a signal that construction work is due to begin, showed a number of large apartment projects were commenced last month. The spate of new apartment developments being built has come at a time when many other developers have warned they will struggle to begin their own projects due to soaring construction costs and a lack of finance. The Business Post, 10th December
House Prices House prices would fall by 12% if 10k new private market homes were built annually, but climate change commitments are likely to hamper any move to boost supply, new analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has shown. The government has projected that 24k new homes – which includes social, private and one-off housing – will be built in 2022. Despite an increase in housing supply in recent years, CSO data has shown the number of new homes for sale on the open-market has stagnated at c 7.5k annually. The report by the ESRI further concluded that if overall completions rose to 35k a year, profits of construction firms would also increase by c. 0.6% and construction wages would rise by c. 1% in the long run. The Business Post, 9th December
Short-Term Letting No limit has been placed on the number of short-term letting licences that can be issued by Fáilte Ireland. Last week Catherine Martin, the Minister for Tourism, announced that property owners would be required to register each home they listed on websites such as Airbnb and Booking.com, and secure a licence from Fáilte Ireland, from early 2023. The new system has been set up in a bid to improve the regulation of 30k homes in the sector, and to potentially return up to 12k illegal short-term lets to the residential market. Property owners who let short-term without a licence could face a €300 fine. The bill has also redefined a short-term let as any property let for between one and 21 days at a time. The previous limit was a property let between one and 14 days. Residents are currently allowed to let their entire principal private residence on a short-term basis for a cumulative 90 days each year. If the 90-day threshold is breached, planning permission is required. If a house is not a person’s principal residence, the 90-day exemption does not apply, and planning permission is required. The Business Post, 12th December
BNP Paribas Report Irish construction activity decreased for the second month running in November as demand weakened amid ongoing inflationary pressures. The headline seasonally adjusted BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland Construction Total Activity Index dipped to 46.8 in November from 47.4 in October, posting below the 50.0 no change mark for the second month running to signal back-to-back declines in total construction activity. Anecdotal evidence suggested that a drop in new orders and a market slowdown were behind the fall in activity. A combination of lower demand and price pressures led construction firms to make efforts to reduce stock holdings. BNP Paribas ROI Construction PMI, 12th December
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
Cabra, Dublin 7 Knight Frank is inviting proposals for the three remaining retail opportunities at Hamilton Gardens, the new residential scheme delivered by UK-headquartered property investor and developer, Royalton, in Cabra, Dublin 7. Expressions of interest are being sought particularly for an artisan cafe, a pharmacy, and a hair/nail/beauty salon operator for the scheme. Aimed towards the upper end of the PRS, Hamilton Gardens comprises 485 one-, two- and three-bedroom concierge-serviced apartments with a range of on-site amenities. The Irish Times, 30th November
Duke Street, Dublin 2 British luxury handbag maker Mulberry has signed a lease with Hines to open a new shop on Duke Street in Dublin city centre. The company has commenced fit-out works of its new store at no. 24 and is expected to open for business in time for the Christmas trading period. Mulberry’s decision to locate on Duke Street follows a series of high-profile openings on Grafton Street and in its environs. Lego, Russell & Bromley, Skechers, and Mont Blanc have all taken stores in the area while high-end jeweller Paul Sheeran is to occupy the entire ground floor of Hines’ Chatham & King development. The Irish Times, 30th November
O’Connell Street, Dublin 1 The firm redeveloping Clerys has raised concerns that a nearby Starbucks will scare off potential cafés, and a separate prime retail unit will attract lower-quality tenants, unless the two spaces can be merged together for a large restaurant. OCES Property, which is revamping the department-store building on O’Connell Street, has asked Dublin City Council for permission to create a larger space on the ground floor that faces onto Earl Street North. Based on the planning permission granted for the development in 2016, one 700 sq. ft space on the ground floor has to be used for retail, while a separate 1,216 sq. ft unit must be used for food and beverage. A decision on the application is due to be made by the council before the end of the year. The Business Post, 3rd December
Blanchardstown Centre has unveiled international fashion retailer Zara’s newest store in Dublin, with the opening of its newest location at the centre. Comprising 52,000 sq. ft of retail space, the store is its largest location in Ireland. The brand formerly occupied a smaller unit of 14,000 sq. ft at the centre. React News, 2nd December
Co Cork and Co Louth The sales of two of Ireland’s best-known regional shopping centres are coming close to completion for c. €21m and €23m respectively. In the first instance, market sources believe that the Omniplex cinema group is set to acquire Scotch Hall Shopping Centre (guiding €21m) in Drogheda, Co Louth. The second deal meanwhile will see Urban Green Private, the real estate investment firm, secure ownership of Douglas Village Shopping Centre (guiding €21m). The first sale itself comprises 170,000 sq. ft of retail space and a vacant cinema, together with the adjoining multistorey car parks which provide 631 car-parking spaces. The sale also comprises an incomplete block with an expired planning consent. Also included within the centre is a former distillery building. In the case of Douglas Village Shopping Centre, as well as being anchored by Tesco and Marks & Spencer, the 230,000 sq. ft suburban Cork scheme counts TK Maxx, Eurogiant, Bank of Ireland and the recently opened Petstop within its tenant line-up. The centre sits on a 6.1-acre site just 3.5km south of Cork city centre. The Irish Times, 2nd December
Baggot Street Lower, Dublin 2 Leading corporate law firm, BHSM LLP (formerly Baily Homan Smyth McVeigh), has agreed a deal to relocate its offices to 76 Baggot Street Lower, Dublin 2. The firm will occupy the third floor at the landmark building on the basis of a lease assignment from Waystone. BHSM’s new offices are fully fitted out and comprise over 8,000 sq. ft of modern office space that includes a client reception area, several boardrooms and staff facilities. It is understood the passing rent is c. €50 per sq. ft with a remaining lease term of c. nine years. The Irish Times, 30th November
Hotel Outlook, Ireland The number of domestic trips by Irish residents in the summer of 2022 surpassed 2019 levels and Dublin Airport passenger numbers were 94% back to pre-pandemic levels as of October, according to Isobel Horan of JLL. Dublin city hotel market achieved a record 92% occupancy, with an average rate of €234.30 and RevPAR of €215.10 in September. This is the highest monthly RevPAR achieved in Dublin ever. Investment demand grew post-pandemic with c. €400m worth of transactions occurring so far this year and a further c. €150m under negotiation. The total investment volume for this year is likely to exceed 2021 levels. We have also seen the emergence of new transactional structures this year with the appearance of ground-rent sales with the largest hotel ground-rent deal occurring earlier this year. In relation to supply there have been several new openings across Dublin after multiple Covid delays. Where many hoteliers are reporting growth in top-line revenues, increasing energy, payroll, and other costs are affecting profitability. Lastly, a proportion of the Irish hotel stock is currently housing emergency accommodation, which has both positive and negative impacts on the sector. The Irish Times, 5th December
Cashel, South Tipperary Tipperary County Council has received 56 planning objections to the plan to build the Cashel Palace in Cashel in South Tipperary, in two buildings, each one-and-a-half storeys in height. The council’s decision is due on December 19th. The Irish Times, 3rd December
Hatch Street, Dublin 2 A long-standing plan to deliver a five-star boutique hotel at Hatch Hall, the former university residence hall on Hatch Street, Dublin 2, is set to be delayed further following the decision by its owners to sell the property. Just six months after it secured planning permission from An Bord Pleanála to convert and extend the Victorian building into a 60-bedroom hotel, Ashford Castle owners, Red Carnation Hotels, has instructed CBRE to offer it for sale. According to market sources, CBRE is seeking offers of c. €25m – €5m more than Red Carnation paid in 2019 to secure ownership of the property without its current planning permission. The Irish Times, 30th November
Dunboyne, Co Meath Davy Real Estate, has purchased Dunboyne Castle Hotel & Spa in Ireland on behalf of TMR Hotel Collection for a price in excess of €25m. The hotel, which has 145 rooms and a mews building with ten units, was sold off-market after 16 years in private family ownership. TMR Hotel Collection, a portfolio of Irish Hotels owned by investor Thomas Röggla, has appointed Windward Management to operate the facility. React News, 5th December
Crumlin, Dublin 12 11 St Agnes Road in Crumlin, Dublin 12, which is currently in use as a logistics facility by the State’s postal service provider, An Post, is being offered to the market by TWM at a guide price of €4m. As part of the deal, An Post will enter into a licence agreement with the purchaser on a short-term basis at market-level terms while the party in question seeks to secure planning permission to enhance the value of the asset. The property currently comprises a single storey building with a service yard which extends to 8,670 sq. ft. The building sits on a site of 0.44 acres and is zoned Z4 District Centre under the current Dublin City Development Plan. It is proposed to change this designation to Key Urban Village under the terms of the new plan, covering the period from 2022 to 2028. The Irish Times, 30th November
Dundalk, Co Louth Urban Green Private, the real estate investment firm, has secured planning permission from Louth County Council for the development of a single warehouse of 401,375 sq. ft along with parking for 50 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) at Dundalk North Business Park. Urban Green Private paid €8.9m – or upwards of €330k an acre – to secure ownership of the 27-acre Dundalk site from the McWilliams Group in July of this year. The McWilliams Group is seeking buyers for the 54 acres remaining at Dundalk North Business Park. The lands are being offered to the market by joint agents CBRE and Property Partners Laurence Gunne on a site purchase or build-to-suit basis. The overall scheme has full planning permission for the development of 1.3m sq. ft of industrial and logistics space, along with a petrol filling station. The Irish Times, 30th November
Industrial & Logistics Sector Investors still favour the industrial and logistics asset class due to its strong fundamentals and have money to deploy in this sector, according to Kevin McHugh of Harvey. So, while 2022 will be a strong year for industrial and logistics investments, this will be mainly as a result of its performance in the first half of the year. Conversely, industrial and logistics occupier demand continues to outstrip supply, with the current vacancy rate standing at 1.5%. Industry challenges include energy, wage and raw materials inflation, weaker consumer sentiment, increased borrowing costs and supply-chain disruption. One of the few favourable developments recently was the dramatic fall in the cost of shipping containers which, according to Drewery Supply Chain Advisors, has dropped by 74% since November 2021. Occupiers’ ability to handle these difficulties so far is reflected in the take-up figure for 2022, which is likely to reach 4m sq. ft. Prime rents now range from €11.25 to €11.75 per sq. ft, but these are likely to be significantly higher in 2023, owing to rising build costs, higher investment yields and the supply/demand mismatch. New-build completions for 2022 will likely be close to 2m sq. ft. The Business Post, 3rd December
St Stephens Green, Dublin 2 Irish flexible workspace provider Grafter is to open its latest location at 6-7 St Stephen’s Green in Dublin city centre. The landmark Smyth House, the former flagship premises of UK fashion retailer Topshop, is set to become the company’s first combined office, retail and cafe offering, and will be open to the public as well as members. The property is owned by developer Paddy McKillen jnr and Matt Ryan’s Oakmount, who acquired it earlier this year from Iput for c. €17.25m. The Irish Times, 30th November
Beaumont, Dublin 9 Bartra Capital and Dublin City Council remain locked in “intensive discussions” over when work on more than 1,000 homes at O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin will commence, c. six months after construction was due to begin. The plans to redevelop O’Devaney Gardens have been beset with setbacks since the site was transferred to Bartra in 2019. Following the transfer the firm opted not to proceed with a fully-approved planning permission for 800 homes on the lands, and instead applied to build 1,044 homes in August 2020. That application faced several delays, and when a final decision on it was made by An Bord Pleanála, progress was further delayed when the planning board’s decision was judicially reviewed in November 2021. The legal challenge was filed by Bartra in a bid to overturn a ban on the sale of 524 homes being developed on the site to institutional funds. In June, councillors were told development of the 1,044 homes at O’Devaney Gardens would commence that month because Bartra had been successful in its legal case. But no construction work has commenced and no contractor has been appointed. The Business Post, 3rd December
Development Land Sector A sharp slowdown in development land sales was seen in the year to date with c. €470m worth of land changing hands in the markets which include the Greater Dublin Area, Cork, Limerick and Galway. According to research from Cushman & Wakefield, this represents a decline of c. 72%. This contrasts sharply with house price trends which saw near double digit increases over the last two years. The reduction in the numbers of development land deals can be attributed to a range of factors which are creating uncertainty. These include discrepancies between national and local planning policies as well as increased numbers of judicial reviews taken against approved planning applications. Currently, when analysing zoned lands for developments, pre-construction timelines on site are anywhere between 18 and 42 months, which amasses significant viability issues on projects. The Irish Independent, 1st December
Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4 The Republic of Austria and residents on Ailesbury Road in Dublin 4 are objecting to new “high rise” plans for 688 apartments on former RTÉ campus lands. Last month, Cairn Homes lodged the Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) application with Dublin City Council. It also includes a 192-bedroom hotel, with the apartments comprising 416 build-to-rent units and 272 build-to-sell units. The scheme is to be built across 10 blocks, with the block containing the hotel, reaching to 16 storeys in height. These plans represent Cairn’s second attempt to build on the lands that it purchased for €107.5m in 2017. A previous planning permission granted by An Bord Pleanála was quashed by the High Court on the back of an action taken by three local residents. A decision is due on the application later this month. The Irish Times, 1st December
Investment Outlook, Ireland With interest rates increasing and high-profile lay-offs in the tech sector, some institutional investors have hit the pause button, waiting for greater levels of transparency on pricing before re-entering the market, according to an article by Adrian Trueick of Knight Frank. This has resulted in lower transaction volumes in the final quarter, traditionally the busiest time of the year. Despite this, due to the strong performance in the earlier part of the year, total investment spend for 2022 will exceed €5bn (the third highest level of investment activity on record). Although some investors are sitting on the sidelines, others are taking the opportunity provided by reduced competition and higher returns to secure attractive deals. Although volatile borrowing costs are impacting pricing, with prime yields in both the office and private rented sector (PRS) markets increasing by 25-50 basis points (bps), there are indications that the slowdown in transactional activity may be relatively short-lived, with demand for Irish assets likely to rebound by the second quarter of next year. The Irish Times, 5th December
Investment Outlook, Ireland In a related article, Michele McGarry of Colliers noted that the commercial real estate landscape changed dramatically in the months between the industry’s two main international annual conferences (MIPIM, in France in March, and Expo Real, in Munich in October). This change and the uncertain landscape were in essence a reflection of geopolitical situations: the continuing war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, rapidly rising interest rates, rampant inflation, and climate change concern among other factors.
While it was noted that the market was not yet seeing distress, it may come in certain instances. Some buyers who took out five-year debt terms in 2017 or 2018 – when more than €6bn was invested – may struggle to refinance in the current, more expensive debt market and will have to release stock to the market. On the flip side, across all sectors, the market needs more transactional activity, and this is one way we are going to get it. There is no doubt that buyers want to see price adjustments as they are experiencing in other jurisdictions. Pricing will be impacted, by how much is yet to be seen. The costs of funding will remain an issue in the context of rising interest rates and the fact that we now have just two pillar banks in Ireland is not helpful. This will no doubt impact investment activity, although with high levels of global capital in the market and new funds targeting Ireland, overseas investment should remain robust. The Irish Times, Tuesday 6th December
Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 AstraZeneca’s new pharma manufacturing facility in Dublin is likely to be significantly larger than the company first planned and could now cost up to €600m. The Anglo-Swedish company announced in September last year that it would build a next-generation active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility at its Alexion campus in Blanchardstown. At the time it said the project, which will be AstraZeneca’s first manufacturing facility in Ireland, would cost over €300m to build. The Business Post, 3rd December
Dublin Microsoft plans to build a large-scale gas power plant as part of a new €900m data centre development in Dublin due to its concerns about the severe constraints on Ireland’s energy grid. The planned investment will bring the total number of data centres operated by the US tech giant in Ireland to 15. Microsoft plans to construct a 170-megawatt (MW) on-site power plant alongside 21 diesel generators in a bid to offset the high-energy demand from the facilities. Microsoft said its data centre facility would consist of two buildings called Dub 14 and Dub 15, which were granted planning permission in May 2021, and will have a total footprint of close to 145,000 sq. ft each. It said the total investment required to build the two data centres and the standby gas plant will be €875m. The Business Post, 3rd December
College Green, Dublin 2 The cost of developing a civic plaza for Dublin’s College Green is set to soar, with Dublin City Council advertising a €10m contract for its design, which does not cover construction costs. The previous plans for the pedestrian and cycle plaza, submitted to An Bord Pleanála in 2017, were given an estimated cost of €10m by the council. However, this figure was to cover both the design and construction of the scheme. The new tender advertised this week by the council will cover only its design, with an indicative value of €10m. The Irish Times, 3rd December
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
Dundalk, Co Louth A fund managed by Davy Real Estate is closing in on the purchase of the Marshes Shopping Centre in Dundalk. According to market sources, the Davy investors are on track to secure ownership of the scheme for c. €30m, or €3.5m less than the €33.5m Kennedy Wilson had been guiding when it offered the centre to the market through joint agents Bannon and CBRE in June. While the proposed purchase price equates to a c. 10% discount on that guide, it represents an even steeper discount of 33% on the €44.5m the US-headquartered real estate firm paid for the Marshes in 2014. The Marshes Shopping Centre is anchored by a 71,600 sq. ft. Penneys and a 116,500 sq. ft. Dunnes Stores (grocery and drapery) and is approaching a 100% occupancy rate. Outside of its anchor tenants, the centre is generating a NOI of c. €3.4m from a number of major retailers including Boots, H&M, Eason and JD Sports. The scheme’s car park generates c. €400k income. The Irish Times, 23rd November
Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2 Ireland’s only not-for-profit fertility clinic, Merrion Fertility, has signed up as a tenant at Behan House on Lower Mount Street in Dublin 2. The company is expanding its office operations, and has agreed to lease the third floor of Behan House comprising 2,214 sq. ft. for a 10-year term commencing this month. Merrion Fertility will join tenants KSI Faulkner Orr Ltd, Cora Engineering, Irish Universities Quality Board, Ecovis DCA and Quality Qualifications Ireland in the fully-let building. A rent of €41.58 per sq. ft. is believed to have been agreed between the parties. The Irish Times, 23rd November
Glasthule, South Dublin An office investment property with development potential in Glasthule, south Dublin will be auctioned by QRE Real Estate Advisers on the Offr auction platform in early December. The office investment at 1-4 Adelaide Road, Glasthule, comprises a three-storey standalone building extending to 10,750 sq. ft. and it has a €1.95m guide price (NIY 5.5%) for auction. Fully let to Houlihan Cushnahan & Co at a contracted rent of €107.25k pa, its 20-year lease dates from September 2007, with expiry due in August 2027. There are tenant-only break options in 2024 and 2026 and an outstanding rent review dated 2022. The Irish Independent, 24th November
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Amancio Ortega, the Spanish billionaire founder of the clothing chain Zara, has yet to decide whether to buy the €550m Fibonacci Square development in Ballsbridge from the US private equity giant Fortress Investment Group. Ortega’s family office, Pontegadea Inversiones, has been in talks to buy the landmark site, which has been leased to Meta, the owner of Facebook, for some time. The continuing negotiations over the property, weakening global economy and technology sector slowdown have prompted speculation about the strength of Ortega’s appetite for this slice of commercial real estate. Although the Ballsbridge campus is earmarked as the headquarters of Meta’s EMEA operations, it is not clear whether Meta intends to occupy the entire site. The US giant has accepted a lease with a 15-year break term. The Sunday Times, 27th November
Grafton Street, Dublin 2 The Bewley’s cafe on Grafton Street made a loss of €1.7m last year, new accounts show, due to the impact of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and a failure to secure a rent reduction from its landlord, Ronan Group Real Estate. The cafe posted turnover of just under €1.2m last year, up from €990k in 2020, when the pandemic first impacted on the economy. However, costs of c. €2.7m, including rental costs to Mr. Ronan’s company of just under €1.5m, and an interest charge of €202k pushed the company into the red. The accounts also show that an agreement with its parent entity on “sufficient discretionary financial support” for it to continue to operate as a going concern has yet to be “formalised”. The Irish Times, 28th November
West Clare The Donald Trump-owned Doonbeg golf resort in west Clare recorded operating profits of €509.8k last year. Accounts show that the former president’s TIGL Ireland Enterprises Ltd made the profit after operating losses of €1.98m in 2020 — a swing of €2.49m. Revenues rose by 90% or €3.4m from €3.76m to €7.17m. The business was boosted by “staycationers” last summer as many people opted to holiday in Ireland due to Covid-19 restrictions. Government grants worth €1.84m were a key factor. The group recorded a pre-tax loss of €1.55m but only after taking into account hefty non-cash depreciation and amortisation charges of €2.05m. Numbers employed at the resort last year rebounded from 112 to 137 and staff costs last year increased from €3.54m to €4.82m. The Trump Organisation has ploughed more than €40m, including the purchase price, into the resort since its purchase in February 2014. The company recorded a gross profit of €6.1m last year and administrative expenses of €7.47m offset by “other operating income” of €1.84m, which resulted in the operating profit of €509.8k. The Sunday Times, 27th November
Hospitality Outlook Hotel room occupancy rates over the first ten months of the year remain down on the same period in the year before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, despite the recovery in tourism this year. Average occupancy rates between January and October stood at 71% nationally and 75% in Dublin, a new survey of Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) members has found. That compares to 80% and 84% respectively over the same ten months in 2019. IHF members are also concerned about the outlook for next year, the data shows, due to the economic downturn and low consumer confidence. 60% of hotels reported that their bookings for Great Britain for next year are down compared to 2019, while 38% said reservations from the rest of Europe are lower. However, hoteliers said the US market was looking more balanced. Despite the Government helping hoteliers with rising energy costs through the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme, the IHF says qualification criteria is too restrictive, with the cost of food, linen and laundry, beverages and insurance all rising by as much as a third. RTÉ, 28th November
Glenageary, Co Dublin The recent sale of a fully let mixed-use investment in south Co Dublin saw strong interest from a range of parties. Having been offered to the market by Lisney at a guide price €1.4m, no. 62-63 Mounttown Road Lower in Glenageary was sold for €2.185m (NIY 5.54%) following a highly competitive process involving 45 inquiries, which resulted in 19 bids from eight parties. The subject property briefly comprises a two-storey mixed-use building extending to 5,400 sq. ft. The part ground floor of the building’s front consists of a retail unit currently trading as Allcare Pharmacy. The remaining ground floor space and the entirety of the first floor, meanwhile, comprises 4,747 sq. ft. of office space let to three tenants. The entire property is 100% occupied and was generating a passing rent of €133k pa at the time of sale. The Irish Times, 23rd November
Student Accommodation Hundreds of rooms on college campuses will be let to students at reduced rates in exchange for State funding under plans due to be approved by Cabinet on Tuesday. Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris will seek Government approval to significantly increase the supply of student accommodation in a move which could see 700 beds made available in Maynooth, Limerick and Galway in the first instance. Ministers will also agree to continue negotiations with two other colleges with planning permissions on providing State support in return for ring-fencing rooms at a reduced rate. There will also be funding available to Technological Universities to prepare business cases for on-site accommodation. The Irish Times, 29th November
Fairview Avenue Lower, Dublin 3 Landlords looking for immediate rental income in a strong location will be interested in the sale of no. 10 Fairview Avenue Lower in Dublin 3. The investment, which comprises 10 residential rental units, is being offered to the market by Cushman & Wakefield at a guide price of €2.75m (NIY 5.2%). Built in 1993, the property briefly comprises one bedsit, three one-bed and two two-bed apartments, and four two-bed duplexes. The portfolio is fully occupied and is producing total rental income of €143k pa. The Irish Times, 23rd November
Cherrywood, South Dublin The funding and delivery of thousands of new homes in south Dublin remains at risk over a failure to reach agreement around the supply of electricity, roads, and other common infrastructure, the Department of Housing has warned. The Cherrywood Strategic Development Zone project in south Dublin aims to deliver more than 8,700 new homes which will accommodate a population of 25k people but has been beset by legal complications and infrastructural delays. Hines had developed c. €57m of public infrastructure as part of the project and claimed there was no lawful basis to demand the €31.5m in contributions as a result. The case was settled in March this year. The cost of delivering these works is estimated at €200m. The council has identified a €76m funding gap to deliver the remainder, which it said is the responsibility of the landowners. The Business Post, 24th November
Housing Delivery, Ireland It has emerged that 11 local authorities, including three in Dublin, failed to deliver a single new-build house in the first six months of this year, with just 647 homes directly built as the State’s housing emergency worsened. New figures released by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien’s own department reveal that just 251 homes were directly built in the first quarter of 2022. During that time period, 18 of the 31 local authorities delivered no new homes. In the second quarter, 396 homes were delivered but still 12 counties failed to produce a single new home. Wicklow County Council had produced the most new homes, with 113 units coming on stream. According to the department, the new-build category since 2017 includes those homes delivered through its rapid build programme, so-called traditional construction, turnkey homes bought from developers, regenerated properties, and those built through public-private partnerships (PPPs). The Irish Examiner, 28th November
Raheny, Dublin 5 Marlet Group has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against Dublin City Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for 580 apartments on a site near St Anne’s Park in Raheny in north Dublin. Last month City Council concerns over the light-bellied Brent goose put paid to the contentious residential plan for the 16.5-acre site on lands to the east of St Paul’s College at Sybil Hill. The appeal is the latest twist in the long-running planning saga for the site since it was purchased in 2015. The Irish Times, 25th November
Kimmage, Dublin 12 A residents’ group has initiated High Court proceedings aiming to quash planning permission for a €106m apartment scheme in Kimmage, Dublin 12. The Kimmage Dublin Residents Alliance says An Bord Pleanála’s fast-track approval for the 208-unit, six-storey development was invalid. More than 75 objections were lodged, including from local TDs and councillors, against the proposals by Lioncor Developments subsidiary 1 Terenure Land Ltd for the five blocks on an L-shaped site next to a large gym. The project comprises 104 one-bed apartments and 104 two-bed apartments, with 21 to be sold to Dublin City Council for social housing. The Irish Times, 25th November
Blackrock, South Co Dublin Residents of Blackrock, south Co Dublin, have initiated their second High Court challenge to planning permission for hundreds of apartments in Temple Hill granted to the co-owners of the Press Up Hospitality Group. An Bord Pleanála conceded last month in the residents’ judicial review over an April 2022 approval for 493 apartments in a €182m development at the site of St Teresa’s House. The Irish Times, 28th November
Metrolink, Dublin Consultation on the Metrolink rail line, which will connect Dublin Airport with the city, has been extended into next year due to a missing document in the planning application. State transport agency Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) submitted a planning permission two months ago to An Bord Pleanála for the line, which will run from Swords and serve Dublin Airport and the city centre, terminating at Charlemont near Ranelagh. The deadline for submissions on the mostly underground line was due to expire on Friday but will be extended to January 16th next year. The missing document was an appendix to the traffic and transport assessment of the St Stephen’s Green Station. A spokesman for TII said it was not expected that the additional consultation time would cause “any significant delay” to the project. Construction is expected to start in 2025, with the building phase taking c. nine years. The Irish Times, 25th November
Ukranian Refugee Housing, Ireland CIE, the state’s transport authority, is not considering making any of its property available to Ukrainian refugees for accommodation, it has emerged. It comes as the government struggles to develop enough suitable housing for Ukrainian refugees amid an ongoing shortage of supply. The government has said the number of Ukrainians seeking accommodation here will exceed 70,000 by the end of the year. Roderic O’Gorman, the Minister for Integration, on Tuesday confirmed that the government would stop using tents to house refugees as it expands on a strategy of refurbishing vacant properties around the country. The Business Post, 24th November
Offshore Wind Projects, Ireland Bord na Móna, the semi-state energy company, has announced plans to develop multiple offshore wind projects off the east coast of Ireland over the coming decade as part of a joint venture with Spanish developer Ocean Winds. These offshore wind projects will deliver a combined 2,300 MW of energy capacity – equivalent to one third of the country’s entire power demand or enough to power up to 2.1m homes. The first project planned by the new joint venture between Bord na Móna and Ocean Winds comprises the Réalt na Mara offshore wind project, which will have an overall capacity of 1,600 MW and be located 12km off the coast of south Dublin and north Wicklow. The second project the companies plan to deliver is the Celtic Horizon offshore development, which will see a 700 MW capacity fixed bottom wind farm constructed c. 14km off the Wexford and Waterford coastline. The Business Post, 23rd November
Rent Levels, Ireland The average rent in new tenancies in Dublin has increased to above €2k a month amid a general rise in prices. The latest rent index from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) found the average monthly rent for new tenancies registered between April and June was c. €1.4k. This was up from c. €1.3k during the same period in 2021, an 8.2% increase. Newly listed rents in the capital rose by a similar amount, jumping from c. €1.8k a month in the second quarter of 2021, to c. €2k. This represented an annual change of 8.8%, slightly above the national average. There were 12,701 new tenancy registrations during the second quarter of 2022, which was a significant decrease of 16% compared to the number of new tenancies registered during the same period in 2021, when the figure stood at just over 15,000. The county with the lowest monthly rents were in Donegal, where the standardised average rent in new tenancies stood at €783 per month. The county with the fastest growing standardised average rent in new tenancies during the quarter was Leitrim, which reported 20% YoY growth. Fourteen counties had an annual growth rate in new tenancy rents above 10% during the second quarter of 2022. The Business Post, 24th November
Planning System Overhaul, Ireland The government is proposing a “radical” overhaul of the planning system under new legislation currently being drafted. It is understood that the government is considering reforms to An Bord Pleanála, including changing the body’s name to the Planning Commission. According to market sources, judicial review reforms will be designed to make it more difficult for individuals or groups to object to big infrastructural projects and will include a new materiality test, where an individual will have to prove the material impact of a project on him or her before being allowed to appeal the development. Additionally, individuals and organisations will be allowed to take judicial review proceedings against a project only after they have exhausted all other avenues for participation in the regular planning process. Over the last five years, the number of judicial review challenges listing An Bord Pleanála as a notice party has more than doubled. Between 2016 and 2021, c. 350 judicial review challenges have been taken against An Bord Pleanála decisions, with c. 100 challenges brought this year alone. The new Consolidated Planning bill also introduces mandatory timelines for An Bord Pleanála to complete planning applications and provide final decisions within a statutory timeframe. Finally, the new planning bill is expected to introduce changes to the length of time planning permissions last for, as well as extending the duration of county development plans from six years to ten years. The Business Post, 26th November
Social Housing, Ireland Local authorities will be offered €100m to pay off debts on condition they develop modular homes for accelerated social housing in the next two years. In a letter to local authorities on Monday the Department of Housing outlined that lands where debts will be covered have to be suitable for the “immediate development” of social housing with construction in 2023 or “no later than 2024″ with “use of accelerated delivery models, principally off-site construction [and] modern methods of construction”. The initiative by Darragh O’Brien, the Minister for Housing, comes against the backdrop of record numbers in emergency homeless accommodation, with 11,397 people now registered, 3,480 of whom are children. Government sources believe 3,000-5,000 modular-built social houses can be delivered next year using this scheme. Participating councils will be given access to two funding pots totalling hundreds of millions of euros to cover legacy debts. Local authorities carry more than €300m in land legacy debt. €100m is being made available to deal with these debts, with another €125m set aside for purchasing more land for housing. The Irish Times, 25th November
Refugee Accommodation Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees based for months in a Clondalkin hotel have been moved to new accommodation in Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Donegal. 220 residents of the Ibis hotel near the west Dublin village learned in mid-November they would be moved elsewhere to make way for international protection applicants. Most of the other people moved on Monday to Trabolgan holiday centre in Co Cork, while others were taken to a former convent in Bruff, Co Limerick, and a small number were taken to Co Donegal. The Irish Times, 28th November
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
Savills Quarterly Report Take up totalled 1.3m sq. ft in Q3, more than double the level witnessed in Q3 last year and 45% above the five-year average for a third quarter. Furthermore, the year to date take up of 2.6m sq. ft.] is 27% higher than the five year average. Deals for big-box units (50,000 sq. ft and greater) are the explanation behind the massive take-up in Q3, accounting for 79% of total take-up this quarter. The largest deal of the quarter and the year to date, was the pre-letting of 206,000 sq. ft at Quantum Logistics Park to DHL.
Take-up of stock built this decade accounted for 74% of take-up in Q3, a significant increase compared to the prior four-quarter average of 45%. Legacy stock, on the other hand, continues to account for only a small portion of take-up, with firms citing corporate ESG requirements, size specifications, as well as refitting and energy costs as the main causes behind the weak demand for legacy units.
Q3 witnessed a rise in the vacancy rate to 1.4% from 1.0% in Q2, largely attributed to the big box unit in Belgard Square North of 105,050 sq. ft and the addition of 11 smaller, legacy units of less than 50,000 sq. ft. The increase in the number of vacant legacy units attests to the industry’s demand for modern stock. In total, there are currently 37 vacant units, of which only six were built after 2000.
Savills Dublin Industrial & Logistics Q3 Market Report
Cookstown Industrial Estate, Dublin 24 Industrial property specialist Harvey has secured the sale of a warehouse unit with future residential redevelopment potential at Cookstown Industrial Estate in Tallaght, Dublin 24 for more than €990k. Unit 73 briefly comprises a detached building extending to 17,233 sq. ft on a self-contained and gated 0.7-acre site. While the property is zoned “objective regen” under the draft South Dublin County Council Development Plan, planning permission for 64 apartments on the subject site was refused in April 2021 as it was deemed to be premature. The Irish Times, 16th November
Ranelagh Road, Dublin 6 Nos. 49 and 50 Ranelagh Road, which comprises 16 vacant en-suite guest rooms and studios along with a commercial premises, is being offered to the market by QRE at a guide price of €3.75m. The subject property extends to a total gross floor area of 9,900 sq. ft and occupies a site area of 0.235 acres. An established physiotherapy clinic practises from the hall and first floor of the front section of the property and has recently agreed terms, albeit subject to signing, for a new long-term lease. To the rear of the property there is a large, double-storey extension to the original building along with a spacious rear yard with surface car parking for up to 10 vehicles. The Irish Times, 16th November
Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2 One of the world’s leading global aircraft leasing companies has agreed terms to lease close to 140,000 sq. ft of space in a prime Dublin office building. SMBC Aviation Capital is set to conclude a subleasing space at Fitzwilliam 28, a 137,000 sq. ft office development in Dublin’s CBD that is owned by French investor Amundi Real Estate.
The building had been entirely prelet to Slack, the workplace collaboration specialist, in 2020. However, after the firm’s acquisition by Salesforce in 2021, it never took up occupation. Slack is relocating its entire operations to Salesforce’s new European headquarters in the Docklands.
Amundi Real Estate paid ESB, Ireland’s largest utilities company, €180m for Fitzwilliam 28. The acquisition represented a net initial yield of close to 4%. Savills is advising SMBC Aviation Capital. Cushman & Wakefield is representing Slack on the subletting deal. ReactNews, 17th November
Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2 BidX1 is guiding a price of €2.95m for a fully let office investment at Grand Canal Dock. The subject property comprises a modern office space located on the ground floor of a residential apartment block. The own-door property extends to 5,941 sq. ft and comes with the benefit of four dedicated basement car-parking spaces. While the office was let initially to MCA Architects on a 10-year lease starting in June 2015, the terms of that agreement have since been renegotiated, extending the lease to May 2027. The property generates €209.9k from the office and €11k from the car-parking spaces. The Irish Times, 16th November
Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2 Meta, the parent company behind Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, is vacating its European headquarters in 4-5 Grand Canal Square four years before its agreed break date. Meta signed a lease agreement for 250,000 sq. ft. of the prime Dublin Docklands real estate in 2015 and had an agreed break date of early 2027. The estimated rent on the buildings is €54 per sq. ft, working out at €13.5m pa. According to market sources, employees currently based in the Grand Canal office will move to its new campus in Ballsbridge in early 2023, once the next phase of the development is completed. Union Investment Real Estate, who owns 4-5 Grand Canal Square and is the investment arm of DZ Bank, purchased the Grand Canal Square buildings in 2015 for €232m from Nama. The Currency, 16th November
Citywest Business Campus, South-West Dublin Henley Bartra, the joint venture between UK investor firm Henley Investment Management and Bartra Capital, has secured two new lettings and a lease extension in the Riverwalk Office Park at the Citywest Business Campus in Dublin. Digital services and consulting specialist Infosys, and Parker Hannifin, a leader in motion and control technologies, have both agreed new 10-year leases for a total of 11,800 sq. ft of space at the scheme. In addition, long-standing tenants Clanwilliam Healthcare, a developer of software for healthcare professionals, has agreed to extend its lease term on the 11,000 sq. ft floor it currently occupies until June 2036. The Citywest Business campus comprises a total of 369,000 sq. ft of modern office space, with lands capable of accommodating a further 100,000 sq. ft The Irish Times, 16th November
Albert Quay, Cork Docklands French investor Corum Asset Management is offering the final two floors at Navigation Square 1 (NSQ1) in Cork city’s docklands to the letting market. Located on Albert Quay, the first and second floors of the building comprise 33,364 sq. ft of grade A office space with floor plates ranging from 14,851 sq. ft-18,513 sq. ft along with 30 on-site secure car-parking spaces. The offices are expected to quote a rent of c. €35 per sq. ft. The subject property is a seven-storey over double-basement carpark building extending to 120,000 sq. ft. The ground floor and third to sixth floors are occupied by Deutsche Börse Group through its post-trade services arm, Clearstream. The building, which was developed in 2018 by O’Callaghan Properties as part of its wider Navigation Square scheme, was acquired by Corum for €60m in 2021 on behalf of its fund, Corum XL. The Irish Times, 16th November
Douglas, Cork KC’s takeaway in Douglas is quietly up for sale seeking €2m. With a constant queue outside its door, the well-branded business (1,076 sq. ft) is dwarfed size wise by its neighbour — the Douglas Village Shopping Centre to its rear. KC’s turnover is not disclosed in the sale prospectus, issued by selling agent Gerard O’Callaghan of ERA Downey McCarthy but well-placed sources familiar with the offer confirm a price expectation of c€2m, and say the turnover is on a similar scale, over €2m pa, or c€40,000 a week. Described as “exceptionally valuable and exceptionally profitable,” it is understood that the Crawford family is interested in a sale, or in a possible partnership. The family has not commented publicly on their sale plans.
Among those who have so far shown an interest are takeaway/food operators well outside of Cork, including from Dublin, attracted both by the turnover and the chances of opening other outlets with the same menu and immense brand loyalty. The Examiner, 16th November
Churchtown, South Dublin Distributed across three buildings – namely Ely Hall, Ardavon Hall and Newtown Hall – the Hazelbrook Square scheme at Churchtown in South Dublin comprises 54 units and is being offered for sale by TWM at a guide price of €20m (NIY 5.11% and c. €370k per unit). The investment consists of 23 one-bedroom apartments, 28 two-bedroom apartments and three three-bedroom apartments ranging in size from 519 sq. ft to 1,335 sq. ft. The subject units form part of a development of 97 apartments and 96 houses within the wider Hazelbrook Square development. While the portfolio’s current overall rent roll of €1.067m pa is 19% higher than the €896k the investment had been generating when the current owner acquired it from Nama-appointed receivers Mazars for €18.25m in 2019, the rents are once again generally below market level. The Irish Times, 16th November
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Waterford Portfolio BidX1 is guiding €2.5 million for a multi-unit residential portfolio in Co Waterford comprising eight houses and five apartments, all of which are let to Waterford City and County Council on 25-year leases. In total, the properties generate €150,210 in rental income per annum, with the guide price reflecting a gross yield of 6%, or 5.4% based on Net Operating Income of €140,455. The leases are HICP-linked (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices), with three-yearly rent reviews.
All but two of the units are located in Waterford City or its suburbs, along with a three-bedroom house in Dungarvan and a four-bedroom house in the village of Aglish, near Cappoquin. The properties are in good condition, having been fully refurbished prior to lease commencement in November and December 2021. Business Post 20th November
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Wilton, Cork A residents’ association has complained that an affordable housing body is “locking out” individual private home buyers by buying an entire housing estate. Respond, a housing association, received state funding to purchase all 69 homes in the Sarsfield Heights estate, which is currently under construction in the Cork city suburb of Wilton, for social housing.
The Eagle Valley Association told the Business Post that Respond’s purchase of the entire estate was “locking out” first time buyers, such as long-term renters with families growing up in the area. The group has also warned that with over 70 per cent of the 301 houses in the Eagle Valley area already in the rental sector, the opportunity to rebalance the area with more owner occupiers is “significantly undermined”. It has also warned that having a “mono social housing estate” in the area is contrary to the government’s own policy of having a housing mix of owner occupiers, renters and social housing. However, it said that its members were not objecting to social housing.
A spokeswoman for Respond said it had purchased the Sarsfield Heights site and funded the construction of the entire 69 homes through a fixed-price agreement with O’Brien O’Flynn, the construction firm. “The scheme would not be built without this partnership, and the participation of Respond,” she said. Business Post, 20th November
Construction New housing construction in Ireland slowed again in October, with 1,841 units commenced last month. This was down 31pc year-on-year. The total of annual commencements to October stands at 26,608, down from a peak of 35,000 recorded earlier this year. According to Goodbody Analytics, recent trends suggest that housing output may now stall around the mid 20,000 mark over the next 18 months.
Apartment construction has been impacted by increased construction costs and yields. Housing construction has been strongly impacted by other factors, such as land availability. “With a change in positions at the top of government imminent, reports at the weekend suggests that there will be a renewed effort by the government to address the large supply issues in the market in the final two years of its term,” according to Goodbody Stockbrokers chief economist Dermot O’Leary. Irish Independent, 21st November
Hooke & MacDonald Report According to Hooke & MacDonald, a total of €1.25bn was spent by investors across 22 main PRS transactions in the first three quarters of this year. €232m was invested in the first quarter while the second and third quarters saw sums of €437m and €597m being spent respectively. The PRS sector continued to be the top investment asset class in Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) in the first three quarters of 2022, capturing 37% of the total €3.5bn investment spend, followed by offices at 30% and industrial at 12.5%. However, in the third quarter of the year, this order was reversed – with offices taking the lead with 43% of the total €1.7bn spend, driven to a large extent by the €500m paid by Blackstone for Salesforce’s newly developed European headquarters. As a result, the PRS’s market share fell to 36% during this period while the industrial and logistics sector fell back to 4%. Investment in retail fell to 1% in the first three quarters of 2022, compared with 47% in the whole of 2016.
The report also notes that according to Eurostat, Ireland has the lowest level of apartments in Europe. Only 9% of housing in Ireland are apartments. Croatia is the second lowest with 21.7% living in apartments. The highest is Spain with 66.1%. The average for Europe is 46.3%.
The report further notes that the National Planning Framework’s (NPF) population projection provided for a net in-migration of just 8,000 per annum for the first five years and 12,500 per annum thereafter. For the first six years of the NPF to April 2022, this would equate to 52,500. The preliminary 2022 census confirms that for this period the State had a net in migration of 190,333. Accordingly, the NPF’s in-migration is just 27.58% of what has occurred – a six year deficit of 137,833. Hooke & MacDonald Residential Investment Bulletin, November 2022
Daft.ie Report The company’s latest quarterly rent report indicated that market rents nationally were on average 14.1% higher in the third quarter of this year than they were in the same period of 2021.
This was the highest level of annual rent inflation recorded by Daft since it started reporting on the market here in 2006. Daft said there were just 1,087 homes available to rent on its website on November 1st, down about 25 per cent on the same date last year. In Dublin, the shortage of available rentals was even starker with just 345 homes listed for rent at the beginning of November.
“Over the past 20 years, the best predictor of future changes in rents is the number of homes available at any particular point in time,” the report’s author and Trinity College Dublin academic Ronan Lyons said. Since the introduction of Rent Pressure Zones in 2016, rents of sitting tenants have increased by 17 per cent on average, compared to an average increase in open-market rents of nearly 75 per cent over the same period.
Mr Lyons also queried Government plans to scrap the current build-to-rent (BTR) planning classification, noting the BTR system had “helped generate a pipeline of tens of thousands of new rental homes that are now coming on stream and represent the best hope for alleviating the chronic shortages in the rental market. If the BTR system is to go, policymakers must have a clear plan on how tens of thousands of new rental homes will be delivered this decade in all major towns and cities.” Irish Times, 22nd November
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
Fibonacci Square, Dublin 4 The family firm of Zara founder Amancio Ortega remains on course to acquire Fibonacci Square, the 375,000 sq. ft. office space Johnny Ronan’s RGRE is developing as part of Meta’s new European headquarters in Ballsbridge. Ortega is prepared to pay the €550m valuation ascribed to the scheme in the early stages of negotiations. Should the deal proceed as expected, Ortega’s family office will begin collecting rental income of €22.6m from Meta in 2024 following the expiry of an agreed rent-free period of c. 18 months. The company signed a 25-year lease with Fibonacci Property ICAV, a joint venture between RGRE and its then funding partners Colony Capital, for Fibonacci Square in 2018. The Irish Times, 9th November
Clanwilliam Place, Dublin 2 Google’s landlords have sought to block the redevelopment of a central Dublin office block on Clanwilliam Place, with the building owner arguing that the new block would jeopardise the tech giant’s privacy. Hibernia Real Estate Group, the property firm, has filed plans to demolish a row of office buildings along Clanwilliam Place in Dublin 2 and construct a new eight-storey commercial development. The company has been given the all-clear by Dublin City Council, but last-minute complaints about the project have stalled development of the site. Two appeals, which have sought to block the project from progressing, have been lodged by Irish Life and Aviva’s pensions arm. The appeals against the project were lodged with An Bord Pleanála, which is expected to make a ruling on whether Hibernia can proceed with its planned office block by March 2023. The Business Post, 12th November
New Street South, Dublin 8 QRE Real Estate Advisers has been appointed to sell the second and third floors of 35 Cathedral Court, New Street South in Dublin 8, at a guide price of €2.25m. Cathedral Court is a mixed-use residential and commercial development surrounded by the Maldron, Hyatt Centric and Loft hotels. The sale provides for two new leases to Currie and Brown and Cuckoo Events Limited (Ireland). Both tenants have signed c. ten-year leases, with term certain income of c. five years. The second and third floors of Cathedral Court extend to c. 2,669 sq. ft. each. The Business Post, 11th November
Docklands, Dublin City Centre Ventaway, a company run by developer David Kennan and Winthrop engineering group founder Barry English, has lodged an appeal against Dublin City Council’s refusal of its plans to build the tallest tower in Irish capital. The proposed building at the site of the former City Arts Centre at City Quay would have 24 storeys standing 108m. The office-led scheme includes 243,100 sq. ft. office space and 15,112 sq. ft. artist studios and exhibition space. React News, 9th November
East Wall, Dublin 3 The East Wharf hotel, which is being developed as part of the wider East Wharf mixed-use scheme at the junction of Alfie Byrne Road and East Wall Road, will comprise 183 bedrooms distributed across 15 floors. Construction has commenced on site with practical completion expected in the final quarter of 2023. The hotel will be ready for fit-out and to begin operating in early 2024. Given that timing, CBRE is seeking proposals now from hoteliers for lease, management agreements or forward-purchase/commitment proposals. Upon completion, the hotel will form the centrepiece of the East Wharf scheme. The MKN Property Group is understood to have paid c. €6m to secure ownership of the East Wharf site in 2019. The sale of the 0.85-acre holding followed the move by its long-standing occupier, Canavan Ford and Seat, to a new car showroom on the North Circular Road. The Irish Times, 9th November
D’Olier Street, Dublin 2 The D’Olier Chambers building in Dublin city centre has secured a new lease with Church & Chambers, a sister restaurant to the Michelin Guide-recommended Mr. Fox on Parnell Square. It is to open for business following the agreement of a 20-year letting for the property. The annual reserved rent is €120k with reviews at five-year intervals. The restaurant will extend to 3,100 sq. ft. and will be laid out to provide a seating area at ground level with kitchens and patron facilities in the basement. The Irish Times, 9th November
Ballyfin, Co Laois One of the most exclusive hotels in the State, Ballyfin in Co Laois, returned to profit last year as revenues increased more than threefold. New accounts show that Ballyfin Demesne Ltd recorded a pretax profit of €786.9k, a turnaround from a €1.86m loss in 2020. Revenue at the five-star country house hotel jumped to €3.73m from €1.12m. Accommodation income showed the greatest improvement in 2021, rising to €2.23m from €624.3k. Food and beverage income trebled to €1.27m from €422.5k and other income amounted to €225.7k from €75k the previous year. Numbers employed by the business increased by a third to 48 from 36 last year, as staff costs went up more than 50% to €1.85m. Key management personnel were paid €387k. Advertised online rates at the hotel across November and December range from €620 per room per night to €2.31k per room per night. The Irish Times, 11th November
Rathmines, Dublin 6 Dublin City Council has refused planning permission for a planned 111-bedroom hotel for the Swan Centre in Rathmines. The council has rejected the application from the owners of the centre, Sawbridge Ltd, for the six-storey hotel after local opposition to the scheme. The Irish Times, 11th November
Dundrum, Dublin 16 Dunnes Stores has agreed a deal to open a new store in Dundrum Town Centre. In a move that will be watched closely by the scheme’s existing grocery anchor Tesco, as well as by Marks & Spencer which also has a grocery outlet in the centre, the Irish retail giant will occupy the unit due to be freed up by Penneys’ planned move from the second level of the centre to two floors of the former House of Fraser department store. According to market sources, Dunnes Stores has signed a 12-year lease and will pay a rent of €2.07m pa following the expiry of an agreed rent-free period of 24 months. The new store comprises 40,000 sq. ft. of retail space and a further 14,000 sq. ft. of back-of-house space. The Irish Times, 10th November
South William Street and Chatham Row, Dublin 2 Colliers is guiding a price of €2.35m for a fully let, mixed-use investment in Dublin’s south city centre. Located at 43 South William Street and 1 Chatham Row, the subject property comprises a four-storey over-basement building of 3,041 sq. ft. Metro Cafe occupies the ground floor and basement and pays a rent of €87.5k pa, under two separate leases, expiring in 2030, with upwards-only rent review provisions. There is 800 sq. ft. on the ground floor and a further 380 sq. ft. at basement level. There are three two-bedroom apartments overhead, which together, are producing €74.9k in annual rental income under separate residential tenancy agreements. All told, the investment is generating €162.4k pa. The Irish Times, 9th November
College Green, Dublin 2 The Bank of Ireland at College Green, one of Dublin’s most important historic buildings, is to undergo a €36m restoration, repair, and upgrade programme in what will be the largest investment in the building in more than 200 years. Built to house the Irish parliament in the 18th century, the building has been home to the bank since 1803. The renovation programme, expected to take five years, subject to planning permission, will involve the repair and upgrade of 280 windows, 45 staircases and 20 km of electrical cabling. Work will also be undertaken on the building’s 54 roofs, 80 roof lights and a combined 2.5 km of roof walkways. The Irish Times, 11th November
University College Dublin has shelved plans to build more than 1,200 student apartments on its campus, as the development was no longer “viable” due to inflation in construction costs, according to correspondence. A spokeswoman for UCD said that the expected cost of construction for the accommodation had “doubled”, and as such “the university could not afford to go ahead with the project”. The Irish Times, 14th November
Blanchardstown Centre, Dublin 15 A site with full planning permission for the delivery of 40 homes, which is located just north of the Blanchardstown Centre in Hollystown, Dublin 15, is being offered to the market by joint agents CBRE and Kelly Walsh at a guide price of €3m. The subject holding extends to 3.26 acres. The approved scheme is made up predominately of two and three-bedroom units ranging in size from 506 sq. ft. to 1,453 sq. ft. The Irish Times, 9th November
Midleton, Co Cork A substantial landholding in Midleton, where planning permission was previously granted for 400 homes, is on the market for €2.75m – with strong interest expected from Cork-based developers. The 30-acre site (c. €91k per acre), previously owned by Castlelands Construction, is being sold on behalf of Nama-appointed receivers, who took control of the lands in 2012, after the developer went bust. The Midleton land that is now for sale, on behalf of the receiver includes c. 25 acres zoned for residential use and five acres, near Gaelscoil Mhainstir na Corann, zoned for community use. The land is being sold by Tender with a date of December 15th, 2022 for submissions. The Irish Examiner, 10th November
Terenure, Dublin 12 Builder Lioncor has lodged plans with Dublin City Council for a 208-unit “social and affordable” apartment scheme for Terenure in Dublin 12. The builder earlier this year secured permission for a €106m apartment scheme, which also contained 208 units, for the same Carlisle site at Kimmage Road West, Terenure under An Bord Pleanála’s fast-track process. That plan attracted strong local opposition. However, if Lioncor gets permission for the social and affordable scheme located to the north and east of the Ben Dunne Gym, it looks set to build that instead of the permitted 208-unit Strategic Housing Development (SHD) scheme as there is a proposal to sell the new scheme to Co-operative Housing Ireland (CHI) for social housing. The new scheme to be built across four blocks is comprised of 104 one-bed and 104 two-bed apartments. The Irish Times, 9th November
Santry, Dublin 9 Plans for more than 850 State-subsidised homes on one of Dublin City Council’s largest sites will be lodged next month, c. eight years after the redevelopment scheme was first proposed. Developer Glenveagh will seek permission from the council for the 853 homes at Oscar Traynor Road in Santry under a deal approved by city councillors last November. Under the agreement, 40% of the homes will be used for social housing, 40% for cost-rental homes, and 20% sold to low- and middle-income workers qualifying for the affordable purchase scheme. The deal was approved one year after councillors rejected an earlier agreement with Glenveagh which would have resulted in 30% social housing, 20% affordable housing and 50% of the homes sold privately by the developer. An indicative time-line presented to councillors envisages a grant of permission in mid-2023 with work starting on site by the end of next year. The scheme will include 240 houses, and 613 apartments and duplex units up to six storeys tall. The Irish Times, 9th November
Donabate, North Dublin An Bord Pleanála has given the green light to contentious plans for a €360m housing development near Donabate in north Dublin. The appeals board has granted a 10-year planning permission to Aledo Donabate Ltd for the 1,323-unit scheme on a site close to the Dublin to Belfast rail-line. The Corballis East Strategic Housing Development (SHD) is thought to be the second biggest such scheme in the State, second only to the 1,600-unit Holy Cross development in Drumcondra. Aledo Donabate initially lodged plans in August 2021 for 1,365 units for a site 250m south of Donabate town centre. The permitted scheme comprises 625 apartments, 352 duplex apartments and 346 houses on a 108-acre site. The scheme will provide 132 social and affordable homes at an estimated cost of €35.8m with the average estimated cost of each home at €271.6k. The Irish Times, 14th November
Monkstown, South Dublin Plans are to be lodged in the coming days for 491 residential units for lands surrounding Dalguise House at Monkstown in south Dublin. Most of the scheme, 488 units, by GEDV Monkstown Owner Ltd is to be based on the build-to-rent model. The apartments are to be accommodated across 10 blocks on the 8.84-acre site at Dalguise House with one block reaching nine storeys and six seven-storey blocks. The build-to-rent units will include 288 one-bed units, 185 two-bed units, 13 three-bed units and two studios. The scheme will also provide residential units in the repurposed Dalguise House, its gate lodge and coach house. The unit number of the new Large-scale Residential Development (LRD) scheme is 64% larger than the 300-unit scheme that was previously proposed for the site. The Irish Times, 14th November
Non-Performing Loans, Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland has agreed on deals for the disposal of two non-performing loan (NPL) portfolios comprising bad Irish and UK loans. The non-performing portfolios consist of mortgage loans and are valued at a discounted rate of €1.4bn. The sales of the two portfolios will allow the bank to lower its NPL ratio from its current 5.4% to 3.7%, close to the EU banking average. Both portfolios are currently generating c. €30m of gross interest income a year, according to the bank. Valued at c. €800m, the first deal is an Irish portfolio comprising owner-occupier and buy-to-let mortgages which is to be sold to funds managed by US distressed debt group AB CarVal. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. The €600m UK portfolio consists of mortgages and will be sold via securitisation on the international bond markets. React News, 9th November
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
Westmoreland Street, Dublin 2 The former AIB premises at no. 41 Westmoreland Street is expected to attract significant interest from both domestic and international restaurateurs seeking a flagship presence in the capital. The building is being offered to the lettings market by CBRE on behalf of the MHL Hotel Collection, the owners of the adjacent five-star Westin Hotel. The property briefly comprises a total floor area of 7,542 sq. ft. with 4,339 sq. ft. of this at ground-floor level and the remaining space at the basement floor with planning permission in place for restaurant use. The Irish Times, 2nd November
College Green, Dublin 2 A deal that will see the landmark building at 34 College Green, in Dublin 2, become an upmarket steak restaurant in the spring of next year is being billed as “the biggest flagship food and beverage international letting in the country” by CBRE. Hawksmoor, which was founded in the UK in 2006 by Will Beckett and Huw Gott, has taken a 20-year lease on the Clarendon Properties-owned building, which was previously occupied by the US clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. The project will focus on restoration rather than renovation of the building; the fit-out of the 14,176 sq. ft. ground floor is expected to cost c. €4m. The Irish Times, 2nd November
The Shelbourne hotel in Dublin registered “record months” of business in July and September this year, as its revenues and room rates bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. New financial results for the hotel released last week showed that it made €14.1m in sales in the third quarter of this year, up from €6.3m during the same period of 2021. Revenues dramatically declined at the St Stephen’s Green hotel when pandemic-related restrictions came into effect during 2020 and 2021. Between 2019 and 2020, sales declined from €42m to €12.2m and the hotel registered a loss of €7.9m. The decline in revenues and room rates caused the value of the hotel to fall from €213.9m to €202.5m. The average daily room rate at the hotel rebounded to €386 between July and September of this year, which is well ahead of the €311 average room rate it charged in the immediate period before the pandemic began in 2020. The Business Post, 5th November
Temple Bar, Dublin 2 The company behind The Temple Bar will return to profit this year after two years of Covid-19 related losses. New accounts for Temple Inns Ltd state that after the lifting of all Covid-19 restrictions, the company “has experienced a strong trading activity in the licensed premises and a slow return to trading in the retail shops”. Accounts show that the business recorded post-tax losses of €115.6k for the 12 months to the end of October 2021, which was a dramatic improvement on the post-tax losses of €3.4m in the prior year. Revenues had plummeted by 71% from €23.1m to €6.72m in 2020. The 2020 loss arose chiefly from a €2.85m investment property write-down. The Covid-19 grants and subsidies allowed the firm to retain its staffing at 81. Dividends amounted to €100k in 2021, the same as in 2020. At the end of October 2021, the company had accumulated profits of €19.6m. The Irish Independent, 2nd November
Enniskerry, Co Wicklow The company behind Powerscourt Estate in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, has reported pre-tax profits of over €3.4m in 2021 – up 69% on the previous year. The figure was shared in the latest accounts for Powerscourt Estates Limited, the tourism and leisure company behind the famous Enniskerry attraction. According to the 2021 financial year accounts, turnover at Powerscourt Estates hit over €6.2m, up from €4.5m the previous year. The figure helped the company to improve its pre-tax profit to €3.4m. The Irish Independent, 6th November
Mahon Point Shopping Centre, Cork British luxury brand retailer Frasers has opened at Mahon Point Shopping Centre filling the void left by anchor tenant Debenhams who pulled out more than two years ago. Frasers is occupying the lower mall beneath Sports Direct, also owned by the Frasers Group and long associated with British businessman Mike Ashley, with the two stores spread across 75,000 sq. ft., c. 37,500 sq. ft. per floor. The Irish Examiner, 3rd November
Glasnevin, Dublin 9 Harvey has secured the letting of two industrial and office units at Dublin Industrial Estate in Glasnevin, Dublin. Having sold the properties earlier this year to pan European investor M7 Real Estate, the agent has now inked a deal with Howdens Joinery for units 107A and 107B on Lagan Road. Units 107A and 107B briefly comprise modern, semi-detached industrial and office properties extending to a total area of 10,000 sq. ft., which are located on a self-contained and gated site of c. 0.42 acres. The Irish Times, 2nd November
Donnybrook, Dublin 4 Having paid sums ranging from €330k to €724k in 2020 to secure ownership of the 43 residential units at Woodbine House in Dublin 4, the owner, a private Irish investor, has instructed Cushman & Wakefield to offer them for sale. The portfolio, which is being sold with the benefit of full vacant possession, is being brought to the market at a guide price of €24m (NIY 4.83%). Should Woodbine House be disposed of at that level, the current owner would stand to secure c. 8.6% uplift on their original €21m outlay. Built in 2002, Woodbine House has 43 residential units comprising 35 apartments (two one-beds, 31 two-beds and two three-beds) distributed across five floors, with terraced garden areas and eight terraced townhouses (two two-beds and six three-beds). There is a shared basement car park with 57 spaces. The Irish Times, 2nd November
For lending terms on these assets please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Docklands, Galway Niland House in Galway city’s docklands, which comprises 27 residential units and three retail units, is being offered to the market by Cushman & Wakefield at a guide price of €8.5m (NIY 5.6%). The accommodation, which is 100% occupied briefly consists of 21 two-bedroom apartments, five one-bedroom apartments, and one three-bedroom duplex. The overall development is distributed across two interconnecting buildings connected by a raised courtyard. One element faces on to Merchants’ Road and comprises a five-storey building housing 24 apartments and two retail units. The second element, which faces on to Dock Road, comprises of a ground-floor restaurant and three overhead apartments. Niland House is currently producing a gross overall income of €528.2k pa. The Irish Times, 2nd November
For lending terms on these assets please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Residential Construction, Ireland The number of new homes being built has fallen significantly over the last year as soaring construction costs and a lack of finance hit developers. The number of new home starts has declined to 26,396 in the year to October from a record high of 34,850 in March. On an annual basis, the number of new starts fell 14% from 30,947 in the year to October 2021 to 26,396 at the same point this year. The department published commencement figures for the months of July to October last week that showed a steady decline in the number of homes being started. In July, the figure stood at 2,438, but fell to 2,121 and 2,211 in August and September respectively. An analysis of data published by the Building Control Management System (BCMS), upon which the department relies to calculate its commencement figures, has shown that the figure fell further last month with developers starting just 1,600 new homes in October. The information from the BCMS is based on real-time data. Notice of new commencements is supposed to be filed at least a fortnight before works begin. The Business Post, 5th November
Residential Market, Ireland Kennedy Wilson, one of the biggest landlords in Ireland, has told investors that the ongoing shortage of rental homes in Ireland “bodes well” for the company. Last week, the US investment fund, which has a large portfolio of residential property across the US and Ireland, released its financial results for the third quarter of 2022. Kennedy Wilson’s portfolio of residential assets includes Capital Dock and Clancy Quay. The reassurance to investors by Kennedy Wilson has come as rents in its Irish portfolio have stagnated across the past four quarters at €2.3K on average a month. After expenses were accounted for, the firm recorded an income of €27.8m from its Irish residential operation. The Business Post, 5th November
Raheny, Dublin 5 Dublin City Council is facing legal action over its decision to “dezone” housing development lands earmarked for c. 600 apartments in north Dublin. Marlet Property Group is expected to initiate judicial review proceedings in a bid to overturn the council’s decision to zone lands beside St Anne’s Park in Raheny for open space in the new city development plan. The 16.5-acre site to the east of St Paul’s College at Sybil Hill between Raheny and Clontarf has been the subject of multiple housing applications and court actions since it was bought in 2015. The High Court last year overturned the latest permission granted by An Bord Pleanála for a SHD of 657 apartments on the site. In recent months, Marlet applied to Dublin City Council under the new large-scale residential development (LSRD) system for 580 apartments and a 100-bed nursing home on the site. The city council last month refused permission for the scheme. The Irish Times, 4th November
Housing Planning Permission, Ireland A property developer has complained that local authorities’ planning rules were acting as an “impediment” to large housing projects being built, in a recent letter to Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien. Bartra criticised planning policy in South Dublin County Council, where it said the local authority was holding up significant residential housing developments. The letter said while Bartra was highlighting problems it faced in South Dublin County Council, “other local authorities are equally culpable”. In a November 1st response, Mr. O’Brien said he was planning to introduce “a significant programme of planning reform”. The Minister said the reforms would be aimed at providing more certainty when it came to planning applications. The Irish Times, 4th November
Social Housing, Ireland Dublin City Council paid out €40m to private developers since the start of 2021 to secure 139 residential units for social housing under Part V agreements. The spend of €15.16m on 71 homes to date for 2022 follows a €24.96m outlay on 68 Part V homes in 2021. The average spend per home by the council is €213.5k this year and €367k last year. The highest amount paid out in 2022 was €450k in the Part V system for a two-bed apartment at St Clare’s Park, Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6W. The spending details come as Cairn Homes put an indicative price tag of €39.14m on the sale of 69 units from its planned Montrose mixed-use scheme for social housing. The home builder has put an indicative price tag of €683.1k on four three-bed apartments it plans to sell for social housing to the council. The Irish Times, 3rd November
Vacant and Derelict Homes, Ireland Waterford City and County Council has led the way in bringing vacant and derelict homes back into use for social housing by creating a special unit which identified suitable properties, an Oireachtas Committee will be told on Tuesday. The council will appear before the all-party Committee on Housing to outline its progress in supplying social, affordable, and cost rental properties in Waterford. The committee will also hear from Limerick City and County Council. It is part of a series of committee hearings to evaluate how local authorities are implementing the Government’s Housing for All strategy. The council has made 85 units available on the Repair and Lease Scheme alone since 2019, by far the highest number pro rata in the State. The council provided a total of 664 units for social housing in the three years from 2019 to 2021. It has a target of delivering 1,216 units (or c. 250 annually) between 2022 and 2026. The Irish Times, 8th November
Housing, Dalkey and Killiney Hill An effective ban on new housing in Dalkey and Killiney Hill, one of Dublin’s wealthiest suburbs, has been overturned. For over a decade, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council had large parts of land around Dalkey and Killiney Hill designated as a ‘0/0 zone’, meaning that “no increase in the number of residential buildings will normally be permitted”. Councillors had planned to maintain the 0/0 zoning in the council’s new development plan covering the six years from 2022 – 2028. However, the housing minister has now issued a directive overturning this measure, saying it is “disproportionate”. The Business Post, 8th November
The Applegreen Service Station on Sallins Road, Naas, Co Kildare, is to go for auction on December 15th with a €1.9m+ guide price (NIY 7%). Let to Petrogas Group Ltd on a 21-year lease from 2016, it generates €145k in annual rent. The lease also offers a rent review in 2026 based on the Consumer Price Index. Set on a one-acre site, the property comprises a forecourt with four double-sided pump terminals under a canopy, a double bay car wash and valeting system, a parcel motel, laundromat, a 2,906 sq. ft. convenience store with toilets and a workshop. The Irish Independent, 3rd November
Phibsborough, Dublin 7 Dublin City Council has announced its design plan for the redevelopment of Dalymount Park in Phibsborough at a cost of c. €40m. The option recommended by the architect-led design team would include the full demolition of the existing stadium, the building of a four-sided stadium with a capacity of 7,880 (5,880 seats and 2,000 terracing), and the inclusion of upgraded club facilities and all relevant match-day accommodation to meet League of Ireland criteria. Relevant stakeholders and the local community will be consulted while the preliminary design is completed and the council prepares for the planning process. If planning is approved, the construction phase would be completed by March 2026, the council said. The Irish Times, 3rd November
Social Housing Vacancy, Ireland Figures published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) show that 4,448 local authority dwellings were unoccupied last December out of a total housing stock of 141,483 owned by councils – a vacancy rate of 3.2% which was effectively unchanged from the previous year. The annual review by the NOAC of the performance of the country’s 31 local authorities showed the number of homeless adults living in emergency accommodation rose by more than 9% over the same period. The organisation also revealed that the average time taken to re-let council homes has been increasing steadily since 2018 and averaged c. eight months in 2021. The report showed vacancy rates in council housing exceeded 7% in Longford and Galway County – over twice the national rate. In Dublin where the country’s housing crisis is most acute, the vacancy rate ranged from 1% in South Dublin to 2.8% in the administrative area covered by Dublin City Council. The latest figures show the total stock of council housing rose by c. 2% last year through the net addition of c. 2,600 properties including 392 in Dublin city (+1.6%), 387 in Cork county (+5.3%) and 154 in Kildare (+3.2%). The average amount spent on getting a council dwelling ready for a new tenant, meanwhile, ranged from c. €7.4k in Tipperary to c. €50k in Offaly with an average of €19.6k. The Irish Times, 6th November
Sherry Fitzgerald Irish Residential Market Review The Irish Residential market continues to perform robustly through the third quarter of the year, though there has been some moderation in the pace of price inflation in the second-hand market. The imbedded imbalance between supply and demand continues to underpin the market, but there are undoubtedly challenges ahead. Transaction activity has now surpassed its pre-pandemic levels, with a 5% increase in the number of second-hand sales when compared to H1 2021, and 10% on H1 2019. New home sales have also exceeded 2019, recording a 3.4% increase on the number of transactions completed in the first six months of 2019. There has been a moderation in the pace of price inflation in the nine months to the end of September. The average value of second-hand homes in Ireland increased by 1.1% in the third quarter of this year, with values rising 5.5% over the first nine months of 2022. This compares to growth of 7.1% in the same period in 2021. Sherry Fitzgerald Irish Residential Market Review, 7th November
Longford Objections made to a €100m planned expansion to the Center Parcs Longford Forest resort are based on a lack of proper infrastructure in the local area, according to those who have appealed Longford County Council’s decision to grant planning permission. Plans for 198 new lodges, external saunas and pods, a new lakeside restaurant and coffee shop and extension of existing facilities were put on hold in recent weeks following a number of appeals to An Bord Pleanála. A decision is due to be made by An Bord Pleanála on March 2nd, 2023. Center Parcs has stressed that its holiday villages have a track record of using increased deciduous woodland cover and well-informed management plans and practices to ensure an improvement to the natural environment within its forest resorts. The Irish Times, 8th November
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
South Docklands, Dublin Singapore-headquartered real-estate investment trust Mapletree Investments is understood to be weighing plans to sell the Sorting Office, the 202,000 sq. ft. home of TikTok in Dublin’s south docklands. Should the sale proceed, the property is expected to command a guide price of c. €320m – or c. €80m more than the €240m Mapletree paid when it purchased the office scheme from Marlet Property Group and its finance partners, M&G Investments, in 2019. The rental level agreed for the office scheme is understood to have been between €55 and €60 per sq. ft. The Irish Times, 26th October
Mount Street Upper, Dublin 2 HDI Global SE, HDI Reinsurance and Natural Forces have chosen Hampton House on Mount Street Lower as the location for their respective Dublin headquarter operations. All three companies have committed to long-term leases and have agreed to pay rents of c. €49.75 per sq. ft. Murphy Mulhall had been quoting when it offered the property to the letting market. HDI Global SE and HDI Reinsurance have taken a lease of the fourth and fifth floors while Natural Forces will occupy the third floor of the building. The remaining office accommodation, ranging from 850 sq. ft. to 1,298 sq. ft., is available on a floor-by-floor basis or altogether. The Irish Times, 26th October
Park West Business Campus, Dublin A UK cosmetics firm has acquired Block 7 at Dublin’s Park West Business Campus for €2.7m (NIY 9.11%) as part of its plans to expand its operations into the Irish market. The property briefly comprises a standalone three-storey office block of 24,282 sq. ft. (GIA) together with 31 car parking spaces. The ground floor is let to Trilogy Technologies on a 10-year lease from August 2018 at an annual rent of €130.5k, with a break option in August 2023. The first floor is let to Paragon 28 based on a five-year lease from December 2019 at an annual rent of €140k. The second floor, which is vacant, has scope to achieve c. €115k a year once fully let. Colliers was guiding €2.7m for the property. The Irish Times, 26th October
Maynooth, Co Kildare Montane, a property company headed by developer Ray Grehan, is offering a pre-letting deal for two new office blocks at Maynooth Business Campus in Co Kildare. Known as The Plaza, the two blocks offer a combined 136,000 sq. ft. of Grade A accommodation. Sherry FitzGerald Brady O’Flaherty is guiding negotiable rents of between €25 and €27.50 per sq. ft. for the space depending on the specification requirements of the tenants. Each of the blocks rises to four storeys with one extending to 65,000 sq. ft. and the other to 71,000 sq. ft. Flexible floor plates will range in size from 14,000 to 18,000 sq. ft. There will be parking for 375 cars and 250 bike spaces. The Irish Independent, 27th October
Grafton Street, Dublin 2 While Dublin city centre was hugely affected by the pandemic, top international names such as Lululemon, Canada Goose and Lego have taken pitches on Grafton Street in recent times. However, rents are lower and shorter lets are becoming more common. Estate agents say the new entrants have come in on rents that are 15-20% lower than 2019 levels. Tommy Hilfiger, for example, decided to pay to get out of its lease of €1.7m a year. Skechers came in on a €900k-a-year lease on the same 9,500 sq. ft. at 13-14 Grafton Street in July. Recently, New Dimensions Active has signed a new one year lease for €500k-€600k with the hope of renewing next year. The number of vacancies has now dropped from 23 at the height of the pandemic to six. The Sunday Times, 30th October
Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 Nike is to open its latest retail concept at Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin. The first “Nike Unite” in Ireland will cover 10,300 sq. ft. and will occupy a prime position on Level One of the centre, close to British luxury fashion retailer Flannels, which is set to open a new 43,000 sq. ft. department store in December. Nike Unite will open in spring 2023. React News, 1st November
Baggot Street, Dublin 4 Veteran publican Liam O’Dwyer is understood to have acquired the former AIB bank building at 52-54 Upper Baggot Street. According to market sources, the Dublin 4 landmark has secured in excess of the €3.2m which had been guided when it was offered to the market in June of this year. 52-54 Upper Baggot Street famously served as AIB and Ireland’s first drive-in bank. The owner will likely explore the possibility of converting the former bank branch for use as a bar and restaurant or boutique hotel. The Irish Times, 26th October
Baggot Street, Dublin 4 No. 20A Upper Baggot Street has been let to Tula Mexican Grill for its second location in Dublin. The ground floor was occupied previously by Insomnia Coffee. The ground floor of 20A Baggot Street is a 900 sq. ft. unit with full planning permission for a restaurant takeaway. The off-market letting was agreed at €70k a year for a 10-year term. The Irish Times, 26th October
Vicar Street, Dublin 8 Having failed to secure a buyer at a guide price of €12m in October of last year, a site with full planning permission for a boutique hotel next to the famous Vicar Street venue is being offered to the market once more for the lesser figure of €10m. The planning permission covers a 185-bedroom hotel with a rooftop bar and restaurant with outdoor terrace in Dublin 8. The Irish Times, 26th October
Kilkenny The owners of the Flynn Hotel Group have lost an appeal against paying a vacant site levy of €210k on land adjoining the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny. An Bord Pleanála upheld a decision by Kilkenny County Council to demand payment of the levy from Newpark Hotel Limited. The levy is charged at 7% of the value of the site, estimated to be worth €1.5m. The Irish Times, 27th October
Ballymount, Dublin 12 Harvey has secured the lettings of two older-style industrial facilities, totalling an area of more than 27,000 sq. ft. in Ballymount, Dublin 12, in quick succession. A part of the Smurfit Packaging facility, units 2A and 2B have been let to separate companies, both of which are involved in the building-supply business, on 10-year leases respectively. Unit 2A comprises 14,202 sq. ft. of detached industrial and office space. There is a parking provision to the front of the facility. Unit 2B is located directly behind and consists of 13,552 sq. ft. of warehouse accommodation with ancillary ground-floor offices and staff facilities. The rent achieved for both properties was in excess of €8 per sq. ft. The Irish Times, 26th October
Enfield, Co Meath An industrial development site in Enfield, Co Meath has come to the market with a €2.25m guide price. Extending to 15 acres, the site is zoned E1/E3 ‘Strategic Employment Zones (High Technology Uses)/Warehousing & Distribution’ under the Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027. The Irish Independent, 27th October
Edward Square, Galway The 106-bed Radical Student Living scheme is being offered to the market on behalf of the current owner by CBRE at a guide price of €13.75m (NIY 6.5%). The gross passing rent includes estimated summer revenue of €1.39m pa. The property is fully occupied for the 2022/23 academic year. It also offers excellent summer revenue potential thanks to Galway city’s long-established status as a proven tourist destination. The Irish Times, 26th October
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Donnybrook, Dublin 4 Cairn, a listed Irish housebuilder, has flagged its intention to apply to Dublin City Council for permission for a scheme involving 688 apartments and a 192-bedroom hotel on the 8.6-acre former RTE lands at Montrose in Donnybrook. One of the apartment blocks would rise to 16 storeys in height and the scheme would include 416 build-to-rent units with the balance being sold to buyers. The scheme is being lodged through the recently introduced Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) system. Cairn originally sought SHD permission from An Bord Pleanála for 611 apartments, three townhouses and other elements. It was to have included nine apartment blocks ranging in height from four to 10 storeys. In March 2021, An Bord Pleanála consented to a High Court order quashing its permission, forcing Cairn back to the drawing board. The Irish Times, 27th October
Ashbourne, Co Meath Joint agents REA Grimes and DNG Tormey Lee expect strong interest in the sale of a site located on the outskirts of the commuter town of Ashbourne, Co Meath. The property, which extends to 5.365 acres and is zoned for residential use, is being offered to the market at a guide price of €3.5m (€652.3k per acre). While the site doesn’t have planning permission, its potential for the delivery of housing is evidenced by its proximity to the town’s existing residential developments. The site is occupied by a five-bedroom farmhouse, along with six stables and associated outbuildings. These are included in the sale with the lands which have been used previously for agricultural purposes. The Irish Times, 26th October
Cherrywood, South Dublin Some of the developers involved in projects at Cherrywood in south Dublin have identified potential to increase the housing capacity of this Strategic Development Zone (SDZ). This follows a public consultation process by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) which also saw lots of submissions from the public. Under its proposed amendment to the SDZ parameters, the council proposes to increase the densities from an average of 33 units per acre to an average of more than 40 per acre. It also proposes to increase heights and densities primarily in the Res 3 and Res 4 sites which would increase the number of housing units from 8,700 to 10,500 homes to cater for 20,000 people. One of the largest developers, Hines-King Street, estimates that it could add a further 700 to 750 units to its town centre site adjacent to the site where a separate joint venture Hines-APG (HAPG) is currently in the process of delivering 1,269 units by 2023, 600 of which will be occupied by this December. The Business Post, 28th October
O’Connell Street, Dublin 1 UK property giant Hammerson has submitted further planning applications for its Dublin Central development as part of its proposed regeneration of Dublin’s north inner city. The primary application comprises lands from no. 43 to no. 60 O’Connell Street Upper and includes a proposal for high-quality offices, retail and restaurant space as well as enabling works for a future MetroLink station. An additional application has been submitted in parallel for no. 61 O’Connell Street Upper proposing retail and residential uses. Hammerson’s overall Dublin Central site covers 5.5 acres around O’Connell Street. The developer is proposing 97 new homes, 100,104 sq. ft. of restaurants, cafes and shops, 467,153 sq. ft. of workspace, up to 210 hotel rooms and a new public gallery and cafe. The Irish Times, 26th October
Park West, Dublin 12 A Dublin office complex, vacant for 20 years, will next month become home to more than 200 people following its conversion into social housing apartments under a €26m redevelopment scheme. The 86 apartments in two blocks at the Plaza in Park West, close to Cherry Orchard, were bought from Harcourt Developments by housing association Tuath and will provide homes for people on Dublin City Council’s housing waiting list. The buildings are located in the 230-acre Park West business and technology campus. Harcourt secured planning permission in 2018 to convert the two blocks into apartments. Two years later Tuath entered into a deal to acquire and fund the conversion of the offices into homes. The two-year conversion project, which was undertaken by Harcourt on behalf of Tuath, has cost c. €309k per apartment. The Park West blocks, which will house 220 people, are a mix of one- and two-bed apartments. The Irish Times, 1st November
Wicklow Cairn Homes and Glenveagh Properties are challenging Wicklow County Council over its development plan. The builders say the plan obliges the council to cut the number of new homes built in the county by 45% to 8,467 between now and 2028 compared with the previous six years. Cairn and Glenveagh argued that the development plan seriously underestimated Wicklow’s population growth as it uses out-of-date figures from Census 2016. The Irish Times, 27th October
Raheny, North Dublin Marlet Group’s plans to build 580 apartments in Raheny, north Dublin have been rejected over concerns for Brent geese migrating to the area. Proposals for the 16.5-acre site near St Anne’s Park, east of St Paul’s College at Sybil Hill, includes a 100-bed nursing home. Over 230 objections had been filed against the scheme. Marlet has the option to appeal against the decision. React News, 31st October
Greater Dublin Area Mason Estates has brought to market a portfolio of 21 fully let residential units in the Greater Dublin Area for €6.5m (NIY 5.5%). The portfolio contains a mix of one-, two- and three- bedroom apartments producing rental income of c. €361k pa. The Irish Times, 26th October
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
Commercial Property Values, Ireland Published by the MSCI which monitors over €9bn of direct Irish property assets, the IPD/SCSI Ireland Quarterly Property Index shows that Irish capital values contracted again with a decline of 1.8% in the quarter. According to Goodbody stockbrokers, it is the sharpest quarterly move since Covid-19 impacted Q2-2020. Office assets saw the sharpest fall, down 2.5% in the quarter and 3.1% over 12 months, followed by retail, down 1.3% in the quarter and 3.3% over 12 months. Shopping centre values fell by only 0.2% in the quarter and the pace of decline continued to slow on Dublin’s high streets as Grafton Street values dipped 2.2% in the quarter and 5.7% over 12 months. Henry St values fell 2.9% in the quarter and 11.1% over 12 months. Central Dublin office values fell 2.5% in the quarter but Dublin 4 offices were weaker – down 4.2% in the quarter and 7.1% over 12 months. The Irish Independent, 27th October
Newbridge, Co Kildare Diageo will on Friday lodge plans with Kildare County Council for a new €200m brewery for a greenfield site at Littleconnell in Newbridge. The new facility will brew lagers and ales including Rockshore, Harp, Hop House 13, Smithwick’s, Kilkenny and Carlsberg. When fully operational with a capacity of two million hectolitres, the brewery will be the second largest brewing operation in Ireland after Diageo’s operation at St. James’s Gate and support the future growth of Diageo Ireland’s beer brands. A planning notice published on Thursday confirmed that Diageo Ireland’s carbon-neutral brewery will be built on a 52.8-acre site at the IDA Newbridge Business and Technology Park. The Irish Times, 27th October
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
IFSC, Dublin 1 Having paid €65.3m to acquire New Century House in Dublin’s IFSC from Hibernia Reit in 2018, Credit Suisse has secured 96% occupancy at the fully refurbished and now-renamed Dockline building. The 80,000 sq. ft. property commands rents predominantly in the range of €53.50 to €54 per sq. ft. Workday is the largest tenant with 54,000 sq. ft. of office accommodation across the first, second, third and fifth floors of the building. The company signed a 10-year lease in July and is currently in the process of fitting out its new space. Swedish multinational Sandvik is the second-largest occupier, after signing a 15-year lease in April for 13,335 sq. ft. of space on the fourth floor, while Swiss asset manager GAM Funds agreed in July to occupy 5,572 sq. ft. on the ground floor on a new 10-year lease. Bank of Ireland occupies part of the ground floor accommodation. The remaining 3,000 sq. ft. at the Dockline is available to let through joint agents JLL and CBRE at a quoting rent of €54 per sq. ft. The Irish Times, 19th October
Mount Street Upper, Dublin 2 Colliers is guiding a price of €2.5m for a Georgian building primed for either office or residential use in the heart of Dublin’s political beltway. No. 32 Mount Street Upper comprises an own-door, end-of-terrace, four-storey over-basement property with a two-storey mews at the rear of the site, extending in its entirety to 5,253 sq. ft. The main building measures 4,366 sq. ft. Planning permission was granted in August 2018 for the replacement of its “existing 323 sq. ft. substandard, single-storey prefabricated structure at basement level”. The rear mews meanwhile extends to 887 sq. ft. and has full planning permission for change of use from office to dwelling house. The Irish Times, 19th October
Kildare Street, Dublin 2 US real-estate firm Kennedy Wilson has signed three new leases covering a total area of 49,253 sq. ft. of office space at 20 Kildare Street in Dublin city centre. The newly refurbished property is now 76% occupied by law firm Dentons (19,175 sq. ft.), aviation lessor Aircastle (15,861 sq. ft.), and US investor Davidson Kempner (14,217 sq. ft.). The redevelopment is expected to generate a yield on cost in excess of 7% once the remaining 16,000 sq. ft. is leased and the project is fully occupied. The Irish Times, 19th October
Wilton Place, Dublin 2 LinkedIn has confirmed it is scaling back plans to expand its Dublin offices, as remote working reduces demand for space. The company had planned to open a European headquarters campus at Wilton Park, confirming in January 2020 it had signed a long-term lease with property company Iput for c. 430,556 sq. ft. of office space at the Dublin 2 scheme. That included Two and Three Wilton Park, which are located immediately beside LinkedIn’s existing European headquarter offices at Wilton Place, along with Four Wilton Park. The buildings are due to be completed in 18 months. The company will still move into One Wilton Park, a 150,694 sq. ft. building that was fully let to LinkedIn in 2018 but plans to expand beyond that have been curtailed. Although LinkedIn has not commented on future plans, it is understood the company will still occupy Four Wilton Park when it is completed, estimated to be 2025. The Irish Times, 21st October
Abbey Street Upper, Dublin 1 Fast-growing fashion retailer Tessuti is to open its first Irish store at the Jervis Shopping Centre in Dublin. The company, a subsidiary of the JD Group, has agreed a deal for the 21,500 sq. ft. space formerly occupied by Topshop. The new store, which is set to open for business in early 2023, will stock a range of designer brands for men, women and children including Polo Ralph Lauren, Emporio Armani, Billionaire Boys Club, Mallet, Moose Knuckles and Versace Jeans Couture. The Irish Times, 19th October
Rising Costs One of the country’s largest hotel chains is adding €10 per room per night to cover the cost of its soaring energy bills and about the same again to cover wage inflation and increased food and beverage costs. Sean O’Driscoll, co-founder and a director of Cliste Hospitality, said its energy bill would double this year to €4.2m when compared with 2019, its last full year of trading before the pandemic. Mr O’Driscoll said the group had also experienced increases of 15-20% in its food and beverage costs and “substantial” wage inflation. “For a hotel to stand still, it probably needs to add at least €20 in rate [per night] just to cover the inflation environment at the moment.” The Irish Times, 19th October
Clondalkin, Dublin 22 KKR and Palm Capital have purchased Cloverhill Industrial Estate in Clondalkin, Dublin 22 for €17m. The sale represents the third and final disposal of the assets offered for sale last November as part of the €48m “Novelty Portfolio”, a mix of industrial and office properties distributed across three locations in Dublin and Galway. KKR and Palm Capital have secured ownership of c. 210,000 sq. ft. of industrial and warehousing accommodation. At the time of being offered for sale by Harvey, c. 85% of the facility was occupied by Primeline VNE while the remaining 15% was occupied by Broderick Bros Limited on a lease that offers a rent review in November 2023 and a mutual break option in November 2025. The Irish Times, 19th October
Industrial Land Zoning Not enough land is being zoned for Irish logistics and warehousing, worsening a supply crunch and pushing up prices, a report has found. Data centres and foreign multinationals are crowding out indigenous industrial firms, particularly in south Dublin, consultants Octavian Economics said in a report. Despite massive population growth and record high exports, imports and jobs, there has been no growth in land zoned for “enterprise and employment” by local authorities. “With a third of a million more people since 2017, an economy that is 70% bigger and a rise in trade volumes equivalent to the preceding 40 years, a massive surge in economic activity is happening that is not being accommodated by zoning of new lands for enterprise and employment,” said Marc Coleman, founder of Octavian Economics. The population has grown by 361,671 since 2016, according to the census, twice the rate of the previous five years. Employment is now at a record 2.5m people. Goods exports amounted to more than €165bn last year, CSO figures show – a new high. The Irish Independent, 24th October
Parkgate Street, Dublin 8 Chartered Land is understood to be in talks with the Royalton Group, the UK-headquartered property investor and developer, in relation to the potential sale of the “Hickeys site” on Dublin’s Parkgate Street. News of the negotiations comes just weeks after it emerged that the German-headquartered investor Commerz Real had pulled back from its plan to provide c. €200m in forward funding for the construction of a 30-storey 322.83 ft. residential tower on the 1.65-acre holding. While a potential sale price for the Parkgate site remains unclear, Chartered Land paid in excess of €30m — or just under €18.2m per acre — to secure ownership of the property in 2018. The figure represented a premium of 50% on the €20m price agent Finnegan Menton had been guiding at the time. The Irish Times, 19th October
St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 A company owned by father-and-son property developers Charles and Max O’Reilly Hyland is planning to build a 130-bedroom hotel on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. The developers bought Nos. 92 and 93, a pair of interconnecting Georgian properties backing on to Iveagh Gardens, for c. €18m last year. ORHRE SSG, the company controlled by the O’Reilly Hylands, has applied to Dublin City Council for permission to turn No. 92 into five apartments and to change the use of No. 93 from offices to a hotel, while also building a part-six-storey, part-eight-storey-over-basement hotel to the rear. If permitted, the hotel will include a spa and restaurant. The Sunday Times, 23rd October
Housing Construction More than 17,000 homes, which are connected to projects delayed for more than two years, would be available to the government if it pursues plans to buy up dormant housing projects, new analysis has shown. Since the beginning of 2018, 18,952 houses and 65,597 apartments – in large residential developments of at least 100 units – have been granted planning permission. During that same period, 17,813 student beds have been approved. The Dublin Democratic Planning Alliance’s (DDPA) research found that a significant proportion of those projects had not been commenced. Despite the legal obstacles faced by many housing developers who have proposed to build new residential developments, plans for a total of 60,213 homes are currently unaffected by judicial reviews. More than 17,000 of these 60,213 homes have been dormant for more than two and a half years. The DDPA research showed that developers had been granted planning permission for 28,504 houses and apartments between the beginning of 2018 and March 2020 but had only commenced 38% of them. In the same period, permission was granted for 10,437 student beds, but only 35% of the units proceeded to the development stage. The Business Post, 22nd October
Vacant Homes, Ireland Homeowners will have to show the Revenue Commissioners their electricity, gas and waste bills to avoid paying the vacant home tax on properties they own. Revenue has put in stringent requirements for householders who want to claim the available exemptions, such as a house being lived in for at least 30 days a year, being for sale or rent, or undergoing repairs. The vacant home tax, which will be three times the local property tax bill, is aimed at pushing owners to either renovate or sell their empty properties. The Business Post, 22nd October
Crumlin, Dublin 12 An Bord Pleanála has given the green light to a fast-track,145-unit residential scheme in Crumlin in south Dublin despite local opposition. The scheme, to the southwest of St Agnes Road in Dublin 12 is being developed by Seabren Developments which is led by Michael Moran of Moran’s Red Cow hotel. It consists of two apartment blocks ranging in height from four to six storeys containing 145 apartments. The Irish Times, 21st October
Malahide, Co Dublin A ready-to-go residential site in Malahide, Co Dublin has come to the market with planning permission for 47 houses. Located in Streamstown to the south-west of Malahide village, the green-field site extends to 6.55 acres. CBRE is guiding over €8.75m (€186k per house) for it. The Irish Independent, 20th October
Dundrum, Dublin 16 The Hammerson and Allianz Real Estate joint venture, Dundrum Retail Limited Partnership (DRLP), has commenced construction work on 122 apartments along with other facilities on a site at Sandyford Road next to Dundrum Town Centre. To be known as The Ironworks, it will also include co-working space, a residents’ lounge, gym, panoramic terrace and a new coffee shop. The development is due to be completed by 2025. The Ironworks apartments will include only one studio. The others will include 50 one-bedroom units and 56 two-bedroom units at the Ironworks site while the remaining 15 will be one-beds located in Dundrum Town Centre. In addition, c. 2,000 sq. ft. will be devoted to co-working space, 4,000 sq. ft. to a residents’ amenity and lounge space and 2,000 sq. ft. to a terrace. The Irish Independent, 20th October
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
Lord Edward Street, Dublin 2 JLL is guiding a price of €8.8m (NIY 6.1%) for No. 14-16 Lord Edward Street, an attractive property comprising nine office suites in the heart of Dublin City Centre. The proposed sale of the property comes seven years on from its acquisition for €7.1m by its current owner, an American investor. The price paid on that occasion represented a 16% premium on the building’s then guide price of €6.1m. At the time the investment had a WAULT of 2.09 years and total rental income of €458k pa. Presently, the WAULT is 5.17 years and the annual rental income is €589k pa. Local authority/State-backed bodies account for c. 68% of the overall rent roll. The subject property comprises a period building converted into contemporary offices in 2007. The accommodation extends to a total floor area of 14,156 sq. ft. across nine office suites and has a lift serving all floors. The office suites range in size from 845 sq. ft. to 3,067 sq. ft. The current tenant line-up includes the Irish Film Board, Dublin City Council, Grad Ireland, and Heneghan Peng Architects. The Irish Times, 12th October
For lending terms on this asset please contact rossmetcalfe@origincapital.ie
IFSC, Dublin 1 With the final phase of a staged refurbishment due for completion shortly, State Street subsidiary New Ireland Assurance is seeking tenants for the remaining office space at 5 George’s Dock in Dublin’s IFSC. Joint agents Savills and Quinn Agnew are quoting €55 per sq. ft. for the accommodation which is capable of catering for companies seeking between 2,800 sq. ft. and 30,000 sq. ft. No. 5 was acquired by State Street for just under €40m in late 2014. The Irish Times, 12th October
Sandyford, Dublin 18 FJ Frisby & Associates has brought the Private Office Collection to market with an overall guide of €4.1m, however, the lots can be acquired individually. The properties include three suites within the Apex Business Centre. Suite B is currently vacant and has a guide price of €900k. Suite C is occupied by Mediterranean Shipping Company Ireland Ltd. It has a current passing rent of €85k pa and a guide price of €1.2m. Suite D is tenanted by P J Carroll & Co. The current passing rent is €60.1k pa and the guide price is €850k. The next office is located in the Beacon South Quarter. Known as Suite 22 The Cubes Offices, it has a guide price of €350k. The final unit is let to Brazilia Salon Ltd and comes with a guide price of €750k. The Business Post, 15th October
City Quay, Dublin 2 Dublin City Council has rejected plans to build a 24-storey, office-led tower on the site of the former City Arts Centre. Ventaway, a company run by developer David Kennan and Winthrop engineering group founder Barry English, proposed the development at City Quay, Dublin 2, which could have delivered the tallest building in the Irish capital. The 243,124 sq. ft. project included office space, artist studios/workshops and exhibition space, as well as 11 parking spaces and 424 bicycle spaces. David Kennan’s KC Capital bought the site in July 2021 for €40m. Ventaway has one month to file an appeal against the decision. React News, 13th October
Government Office Energy Rating Figures released by the Office of Public Works show that just one of 238 office buildings occupied by Government Departments and agencies has achieved an A rating for energy efficiency. The building with an A rating being the Revenue Warehouse in Limerick which scores an A2. Just 38 of the 238 buildings have a B rating and, of those, only two have a B1 rating. In contrast, 14 offices and buildings have energy ratings of E or less. Of those, six have an energy rating of G. The OPW said the standard used to measure energy efficiency in its buildings was the more exacting Display Energy Certificate (DEC) which measured “actual” consumption over a 12-month period. In a statement the OPW said that as of January 2022, 58% of its buildings were C3 or better, compared to 60% of OPW buildings being D1 or worse when the energy efficiency campaign was first introduced in 2008. The OPW said 120 energy retrofits have been completed in its buildings since 2008, mainly involving upgrades of lighting, heating and control systems. Average energy savings of over 25% have been achieved through this initiative, it said. The Irish Times, 17th October
Gorey, Co Wexford A private pension syndicate has paid €9.35m (NIY 8.95%) for Gorey Shopping Centre. Built originally in 2007, the Wexford scheme is generating NOI of €920k pa. The sale is understood to have been brokered in an off-market transaction on behalf of US investment group Davidson Kempner by Bannon. Davidson Kempner acquired Gorey Shopping Centre for its part in 2015 as part of its wider €118m purchase of the Cornerstone Portfolio – a collection of six provincial shopping centres distributed across six counties. Gorey Shopping Centre briefly comprises a single internal mall and is anchored by one of the largest Dunnes Stores in the southeast (61,209 sq. ft.) offering grocery, clothing and homeware products. The shopping centre has 22 retail units in total with three of these at first-floor level and one at basement level. The Irish Times, 12th October
Ashbourne, Co Meath Ashbourne Retail Park in Co Meath has signed up 10 deals in the last 18 months, the latest of which is Burger King which has opened a new drive thru restaurant which will be operated by Applegreen. Another restaurant and take away, Camille, is currently fitting out. Leisure Dome, a new state-of-the-art 32,291 sq. ft. family entertainment centre, opened in June beside Go Gym and Vue Cinema. Asset manager Wilson Wright says the 10 deals bring occupancy to 91%. Two units, suitable for a variety of uses, are available, ranging from 4,994 sq. ft. to 7,997 sq. ft., quoting a rent of €14 per sq. ft. The Irish Independent, 13th October
Dublin and Cork The offers for Debenhams’ former flagship premises in Dublin and Cork are understood to have come close to meeting the guide prices of €55m and €20m set by Cushman & Wakefield. In the case of the Henry Street store, Frasers Group and Swedish furniture giant Ikea are understood to be among several parties in the mix for the property. As part of this sale there is an existing licence with Zara which has traded on the site since 2003. It occupies c. 19,999 sq. ft. at ground and second floor level with additional storage on the third floor. The sale of Debenhams’ former site in Cork city, meanwhile, still has at least five parties in the mix. The Irish Times, 12th October
Merchant’s Quay Shopping Centre, Cork A dispute about Dunnes Stores’s alleged failure to reopen one of its anchor shops after the repeal of Covid-19 rules directing the closure of non-essential retail outlets may be resolved later this month, the Commercial Court heard on Monday. The owner of Merchant’s Quay Shopping Centre in Cork, Phyluma Ltd, has sued Dunnes Stores (Georges Street) Unlimited Co claiming it is in breach of a “keep-open” clause in its anchor tenancy for a Dunnes clothing outlet at the centre. Dunnes denies it is in breach of the agreement. Phyluma claims that notwithstanding the permanent lifting in May 2021 of the Covid era prohibitions on non-essential outlets, Dunnes has “failed without meaningful explanation” to reopen Merchant’s Quay. It also says Dunnes removed all of its stock from the unit and this has left it in “an obviously vacant state which is unattractive” for customers and the smaller tenants in the centre. The Irish Times, 17th October
Hotel Sector, Ireland Aiden Murphy, a corporate recovery expert with the accountancy firm Crowe Ireland, expects 30 to 40 hotels to become insolvent in 2023. Higher operating costs, falling profits, mounting liabilities and the withdrawal of government support measures introduced during the Covid era leave smaller businesses without protection and unable to pay down debt. Tax debt warehoused during the pandemic is due for repayment from next May. Since these establishments lack scale, they must choose either to give over all their rooms to the government-funded accommodation scheme, which provides housing for Ukrainians and other refugees, or operate the establishment solely on commercial lines. Top-end and five-star establishments remain in robust health, according to Murphy, boosted by a “punchy increase in room rates”. The Sunday Times, 16th October
Exchequer Street, Dublin 2 Pan-European investor Deutsche Finance International and real estate manager BCP Capital have joined forces to open Ireland’s first Hoxton in Dublin City Centre. The duo inked a long-term agreement with lifestyle hospitality firm Ennismore to operate the Central Hotel under the Hoxton brand. Acquired by DFI and BCP in 2019, the Central Hotel is located on Exchequer Street. Redevelopment of the hotel has begun in the second quarter of the year, financed with a loan from a fund managed by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management. The Hoxton in Dublin is targeting a 2024 opening, which will unveil the expanded bar, night venue and restaurant space. React News, 17th October
Thomas Street, Dublin 8 Oakmount, headed by Paddy McKillen Jr, has sold a fully let, mixed-use building in Dublin city for c. €13.4m. That’s a discount of c. €1.3m on its €14.75m asking price. Press-Up Group, operates John’s Bar & Haberdashery on the ground floor of the property, Sixty One Thomas Street, Dublin 8. The 16,614 sq. ft. property also includes four fully-let floors of grade-A office accommodation and is generating total annual rent of €810.2k. Tenants include Lumen Technologies, Digitize New Media and McCann Advertising and the WAULT averages c. seven years. The Irish Independent, 12th October
Ranelagh, Dublin 6 The Northbrook Clinic in Ranelagh, which is fully let and producing rental income of c. €330k pa, is being offered to the market by joint agents Knight Frank and North’s Property for €5m (NIY 6%). It is understood that VAT is not applicable to the freehold sale of the asset. The subject property comprises a three-storey detached Gothic Revival-style building and extends to 10,005 sq. ft. The Irish Times, 12th October
Planning System, Ireland A number of property developers are taking legal advice on whether to initiate High Court cases against An Bord Pleanála over failures in the planning system. If they proceed with the actions, they will be seeking, among other things, compensation to cover planning fees and the accumulating finance costs associated with delayed planning permissions. The property developer Pat Crean is thought to be among those taking legal advice after the board last week conceded a judicial review of permission it had granted to his company Atlas GP for 255 apartments in Killiney. An Bord Pleanála has faced a growing number of actions over the past three years. Of the 95 cases taken against it in 2021, 47 were associated with strategic housing development approvals. According to market sources, the board has paid out €1.05m this year in fines to developers over the backlog in processing applications. The board was liable to pay €10k to developers if it took more than 16 weeks to make a decision on fast-track applications. It made 105 payments to 84 developers. The Sunday Times, 16th October
Thomas Street, Dublin 8 Ireland’s Land Development Agency (LDA) has revealed its masterplan for the redevelopment of the Digital Hub complex in Dublin 8. The proposal outlines the construction of more than 500 social and affordable homes on the 9.2-acre site off Thomas Street in the Liberties. The development, to be called Pear Tree Crossing, will include the renovation and reuse of several protected and historic buildings on the site. The Digital Hub lands are among the 5.6 acres of land identified to be transferred to the LDA from the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA). The site has been divided into four plots – School Street, Watling plot, the St Patrick’s Tower site and the Vat House 7 plot. The LDA has launched an online public consultation on the masterplan and intends to submit an initial planning application in 2023, with phased completions of the project to begin in 2024. Construction of the apartments will begin after 2025. React News, 17th October
Housing Construction, Ireland To meet its climate targets the State may need to limit the construction of new homes to just 21,000 units a year, significantly below the current construction rate (expected to be 25,000-28,000 this year) and significantly below the 33,000 units envisaged under the Government’s Housing for All strategy, a new report has indicated. The study by the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) considers how Ireland’s construction and built environment sector might reduce emissions by 51% by 2030, the target set out in the State’s Climate Action Plan. Currently the sector accounts for 37% of the State’s carbon emissions, the same as agriculture. 23% are generated from operational emissions associated with the energy households and businesses use to heat, cool, and light their buildings, with the remaining 14% coming from what the report describes as embodied carbon, the emissions associated with the construction of the building in the first place. The Irish Times, 13th October
Finglas, Co Dublin Dublin City Council has initiated High Court action against An Bord Pleanála over its decision to grant a large-scale build-to-rent scheme in a regeneration area, against the council’s strong opposition. The council is seeking a judicial review of the board’s approval of 314 build-to-rent apartments at former industrial lands in Finglas, in an area designated for more than 2,000 new homes. The board last August granted permission to Jamestown Village Ltd for the build-to-rent scheme of five apartment blocks rising to six storeys at Jamestown Road industrial estate in Finglas, Co Dublin. The Jamestown industrial estate was in June 2021 rezoned to facilitate its “rejuvenation” as a residential and enterprise zone and its designation as a Strategic Development and Regeneration Area. The Irish Times, 14th October
Planning and Building Process Taoiseach Micheál Martin has expressed frustration at the slow pace of the planning and building process and the failure of the system to respond swiftly to innovation. The Taoiseach acknowledged that the system was too slow given the nature of the current crises in housing and refugees, adding that the system for accommodating students could also be improved. The Irish Times, 13th October
Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme Just 35 properties were available to rent by people reliant on the HAP scheme in September, according to a report from the Simon Communities of Ireland. This represents the lowest number ever recorded in the “Locked Out of the Market” quarterly reports by the Simon Communities. More than 60,000 tenancies were subsidised through HAP in 2021, according to the CSO. For the first time, the report found no properties available to rent within a standard HAP rate. The 35 properties available under a discretionary limit in at least one of the four categories is two less than the 37 HAP properties available in the June 2022 study and 81.7% less than the 192 which were available one year previously, in September 2021. The 35 properties within HAP limits were predominantly available in Dublin (23) while outside of Dublin, nine of the 16 study areas had no properties available to rent in any household category within standard or discretionary HAP limits. The Irish Times, 17th October
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