Kevin Street, Dublin 8 Dublin City Council (“DCC”) has entered exclusive talks to buy Camden Yard, the stalled development on a prime site near St Stephen’s Green. The Sunday Times understands that the local authority has agreed to pay approx. €100m for the 3.6-acre site. The scheme, based on the former DIT campus on Kevin Street, has planning permission for 408,000 sq. ft of office space, 299 apartments, a one-acre park and a number of retail and restaurant units. Construction has started and a large, half-built concrete structure stands on the site. However, the local authority would look to knock down at least part of that structure and build mostly apartments on the site. The move would be a departure for DCC, which has not speculatively bought land for housing development in recent years. However, it is developing a number of its own sites, and redeveloping O’Devaney Gardens, after doing a deal with developer Bartra to build 1,000 homes. It is also involved in a number of new-build schemes and regeneration projects. Sources say that BGO, a secured lender which appointed a receiver to the site in December last year, is insisting on a tight exclusivity period. A €100m sale price would mean BGO, which provided the senior debt of €75m to fund the approx. €145m purchase of the site, would be repaid in full. An additional approx. €65m was spent on site excavation and construction. The Sunday Times, 14th December
Kilkenny City An Coimisiún Pleanála (“ACP”) has refused planning permission for a proposed development of a 67-bedroom hotel in the heart of Kilkenny city because of its negative impact on local residences. ACP reversed the decision of Kilkenny County Council to approve the planning application by Penny Pudding Limited to develop a multi-storey hotel on the corner of Pennyfeather Lane and Pudding Lane. It followed the lodging of two appeals by local residents and businesses against the council’s ruling. The proposed development had also provided for the demolition of the former Mulhall’s restaurant on the 0.14 acre site which is located in the city centre’s Architectural Conservation Area. The developers had sought permission to construct a six-storey hotel but a condition was imposed by council planners, which was unsuccessfully appealed by Penny Pudding Limited, that one floor should be omitted as part of securing approval for the project. However, ACP ruled that the proposed development by reason of its overall size, scale and mass together with its close proximity to homes to the immediate north of the site would seriously injure residential amenities of adjoining properties, notwithstanding the omission of one storey. ACP noted that the proposed development would be contrary to provisions of the Kilkenny City and County Development Plan 2021-2027 in relation to building heights and plot ratio. Rte.ie, 11th December
Grand Parade, Cork City Danish retailer Normal is to open at the former Argos store in the Queen’s Old Castle, ending six years of vacancy at one of Cork city centre’s most prominent retail spaces. Confirmation that the Nordic chain has taken out a lease on the 10,000 sq. ft unit, empty since Argos closed in 2019, signals another new arrival to Grand Parade, following on from confirmation last week that a Gala convenience store is to open at Singer’s Corner, empty since last May. The arrival of Normal is another welcome boost to Grand Parade where Cork City Council recently unveiled the new-look Bishop Lucey Park after a €7m upgrade. Normal is scheduled to open in the Spring. The retailer has had Ireland in its crosshairs for some time, according to chief executive Jakob Frolich Maarbjerg, who said in a recent newspaper interview that they also intend to open a store in Coolock, on Dublin’s north side. He indicated that they may eventually open up to 100 stores in Ireland. The Examiner, 12th December
Bunclody, Co. Wexford The busy Eurospar shop in Bunclody town has gone on the market for €1.295m through DNG. The property is located on Market Square and benefits from a commanding profile leading to strong footfall. The property was fully redeveloped in recent years. The ground floor unit is currently in use as retail space and is trading as a Eurospar supermarket comprising of commercial retail on the ground and first floor currently as stores and back office. Access for deliveries is located to the rear with on street parking to the front for customers, along Market Square itself. Besides the shop itself, there are four apartments, consisting of three two-bed room apartments and one one-bed apartment, which are all fully occupied and enjoying market rents. Tenancy details of the contract state that the lease period of the retail unit is 20 years. The Irish Independent, 11th December
Dublin Market Performance A total of 55 office lettings were registered in Dublin with the Property Price Register (“PPR”) between July 1st and November 11th this year. Almost half of these, 26, were lettings in Dublin 2, the area which is most popular for office lettings in the capital. The rest were spread across the city and suburbs. Among the larger lettings in Dublin 2 during the fourth quarter of the year was part of the first floor of Block D, at Irish Life’s 1GQ George’s Quay. According to the PPR, a 10-year lease was signed for an average annual rent of €350,192 pa. In Dublin 4 one of the most recent lettings saw property firm Rohan Group let out the ground floor of its 2 Grand Canal Plaza building at Grand Canal Street Upper for five years at an average annual rent of €419,624. Dublin 4 also saw the letting of 12,000 sq. ft at Glencar House, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, which was developed by Killeen Properties. In this instance, the PPR shows that Jackson Square Aviation took a 15-year lease at an average annual rent of €784,062 during the third quarter of the year. The next busiest office district was Dublin 1 which includes the IFSC. One of Ireland’s largest property investors and developers, IPUT, announced in the third quarter that it has secured three new tenants for 3 Dublin Landings in North Docklands. Those had not been listed on the register by November 11th. The Irish Independent, 11th December
Malahide Road, Dublin 17 Glenveagh Homes is to lodge plans in the coming days for 1,350 residential units on lands adjoining Belcamp Hall off the Malahide Road. The move follows the builder purchasing €130m worth of property from Gannon Homes that includes the Belcamp site earlier this year. The Belcamp large-scale residential scheme (“LRD”) on a 119.5-acre site will comprise of 802 houses and 296 apartments across eight blocks ranging in height from three to five storeys. The scheme will also comprise of 252 walk-up apartments ranging in height from three to four storeys. The site adjoins Belcamp Hall and lies west of Malahide Road, north of the River Mayne. Glenveagh is seeking a 10-year planning permission from Fingal County Council in its LRD application. Gannon Homes had previously lodged strategic housing development plans in May 2022 to An Bord Pleanála for a 10-year permission for the construction of 2,527 residential units comprising 473 houses and 2,054 apartments. The firm withdrew the scheme in December of last year. The Irish Independent, 12th December
Ballyboden, Dublin 16 A Tidy Towns has taken its third legal challenge over planning approval for a development of more than 400 apartments near the Dublin mountains. Ballyboden Tidy Towns Group (BTTG), in a third judicial review over the proposed development at the former Augustinian seminary at Taylor’s Lane, wants orders overturning a permission granted last September by ACP. The permission, granted to Shannon Homes Dublin Unlimited Company, is for the development of 402 residential units. It is the third permission for the development, the previous two having been successfully challenged. The case will be heard next month. The BTTG and a local residents group got court orders in January 2022 overturning permission to build 486 apartments on the same plot. In its challenge to the third permission, BTTG claims it breaches domestic and European law. The Irish Times, 15th December
Residential-Zoned Land Tax Newly released data shows that the tax authority has collected over €14m in the new residential-zoned land tax (RZLT) owed by local authorities and state agencies for their own landholdings. The data, released by Revenue under freedom of information and provided by some bodies themselves, shows public bodies were liable for €19.5m during the first collection period of the new tax. The liability kicked in this February, replacing the largely ineffectual vacant site levy. Some costs were deferred or exemptions applied following back and forth with Revenue. The new 3% tax on the value of undeveloped land was introduced to discourage the hoarding of sites and spur the development of housing. The data shows that the bulk of the liability of public bodies is owed by local authorities, which were themselves tasked with drawing up maps of land subject to the tax. DCC has the biggest bill, coming in at €6.45m, according to Revenue data. To date, it has paid just over €3m of this liability. A council spokesperson confirmed that the tax was paid for 35 local authority-owned sites. It sought deferral of payment of the tax on 18 sites where planning permission has been granted and development has commenced, the spokesperson added. DCC’s own liability makes up a quarter of the total €25m due under the tax for 85 sites in its administrative area, stretching across the city centre. Overall, just €43.5m of the total tax liability of €119.9m owed this year has been paid to date. From 2,000 returns, the vast majority of deferrals, 413 cases with a combined liability of €63.4m, were for cases where construction has now begun. The tax was also deferred in cases where planning permission was granted, the owner appealed inclusion of their site in the tax net, or where there is a third-party appeal to ACP. Analysis of the data shows that private owners have availed of deferrals on a far greater scale than State bodies. Around 70% of the tax liability deferred this year, €70.9m of €98m deferred, concerned privately owned lands. The Currency, 15th December
Walkinstown, Dublin 12 Joseph Brennan Bakeries has secured planning permission for a sweeping overhaul and upgrade of its Walkinstown facility. Brennans applied for planning permission to South Dublin County Council earlier this year, looking to kick off a multi-year demolition, reconstruction and extension of its bakery. The plans received council approval last week. The business had grown over the last 50 years to employ over 200 staff and occupy an extensive site of over 5.9 acres at the Greenhills Industrial Estate. Having grown organically over the years, Brennans will develop a new 32,000 sq. ft bakery facility on the site of its existing car park. It also plans to build a new staff facility with offices and a 33,000 sq. ft van-loading building, complete with a green roof and solar panels. The planning approval was made subject to 24 conditions. The Irish Independent, 15th December
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Nationwide The iNua Collection, a regional hotels group backed by private investors, is set to go to the market in the new year as it looks to deliver an exit for investors. The group is likely to be valued at approx. €100m. Cork-based BlackBee, which went into liquidation in 2023, raised nearly €47m from loan note holders for the iNua Collection in 2018. Investors had expected a return within five years. The company operates eight hotels, including some Radisson Blu hotels, Muckross Park in Killarney and Tullamore Court. Management of iNua, who also run Cliste Hospitality, a third-party hotel management company, are keen to continue to have some involvement in the running of the hotels. Latest accounts for iNua show it had a turnover of €71.1m last year and a pre-tax loss of just under €2.7m. In an update sent to investors in September, the group said management were “pleased that occupancy at the hotels (an average of 80%) is outperforming our competitors”. The company posted EBITDA of €10.71m for last year, down from €11.43m in 2023. In 2023, iNua refinanced its portfolio with a €70m loan. Latest accounts show it owed Allianz Debt Investments and EQ Ecred Investments €69.75m. Sales proceeds of €100m could mean BlackBee investors recover roughly 60% of their investment. The Sunday Times, 7th December
Kilkenny City The Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel has been acquired by Lanthorn on behalf of TMR Hotel Collection. It was acquired from Jerry O’Reilly for up to €32m. Owned by Austrian investor Thomas Roggla, TMR has about 2,000 hotel rooms in Ireland. The Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel has 118 bedrooms and the sale was being pitched to include an adjacent multi-storey carpark. It was part of a sale of two properties being handled by JLL and dubbed Project Abbey. The other property included in the sales process was the Absolute Hotel in Limerick. The Irish Independent, 4th December
Dublin 2 Leonardo Hotels acquired the Hard Rock hotel in Dublin for just over €34m, newly filed accounts reveal. While the deal was revealed by the Business Post in July 2024, no details about the value of it, or how it was financed, were made public at the time. Accounts for Pebble Shore Limited, the parent company established for the deal by Leonardo’s owner Fattal, which is behind the former Jurys Inn hotel chain, show it acquired Rockyvale Limited, the hotel’s owner, for €34.1m. The investment included €33.5m on acquisition, plus an additional €600,000 cash infusion post-acquisition. It was financed by the company’s loans from banks and related parties. Pebble Shore’s accounts show it took a bank loan of almost €38m in the year, while it repaid a loan of €33.2m. Pebble Shore also received €15m in loans from a related party in 2024. The year before the acquisition the Hard Rock hotel’s then owner, Rockyvale Limited, had a €34m bank loan facility from AIB on its balance sheet. The Business Post, 5th December
Cork City Two new hotels are about to get off the ground in Cork City. The planned €18.5m hotel at No 71 South Mall, formerly home to National Irish Bank, will be a 58-bedroom boutique hotel called The Joshua. Co. Clare-registered financial advisory company Finbuild Ltd are his funding partners in the project, which will see a long-vacant former bank building returned to use in the city’s financial business district. Planning permission for the South Mall hotel was granted in 2019 to previous owners but has lapsed, so a new application is pending. Separately, the JMK Group, owned by the Kajani family and chaired by Pakistani-Irish businessman John Kajani, has served notice that it is commencing work on the aparthotel on South Terrace, for which planning permission was granted in 2022. The JMK Group project will see the conversion of three late-Georgian buildings, Nos 31, 32 and 33, into an aparthotel, which the group previously stated would operate under the Adagio brand. The group bought the buildings for approx. €1m about a decade ago. The planning grant includes permission for a five-floor over-ground floor and lower-ground-floor annex to the rear of the buildings, as well as an external landscaped courtyard. The Examiner, 5th December
Grafton Street, Dublin 2 Victoria’s Secret is to close its flagship store on Grafton Street and move to a new location in Dublin city centre. While the American lingerie brand has traded successfully from 28-29 Grafton Street since it opened there in December 2017, the building, which comprises some 20,000 sq. ft of retail space and storage, is now surplus to its requirements. The Irish Times understands that Victoria’s Secret has applied to the building’s landlord, Sretaw, to assign the remaining seven years of its lease to a new occupier. Sretaw acquired the Grafton Street building from Iput for €28m in 2023, and is understood to be in receipt of annual rent of €1.5m from its investment. The Irish Times, 5th December
Walkinstown, Dublin 12 The green light has been given to a large-scale 436 apartment development in Walkinstown after the withdrawal of a third-party appeal against the planning permission, planning documents reveal. The homes are set to be built in an industrial estate, with the owners of nearby commercial units fearing the development would lead to conflict between their operations and homeowners’ rights to quiet enjoyment. The planning permission was sought by Watfore Ltd, a development and property management subsidiary of Dairygold Co-Op, to demolish the existing site before building four apartment blocks ranging between six and 10 storeys in height. The development is set to be built in the Parkmore Industrial Estate on the Long Mile Road. In addition to the 436 apartments, the plans include a community library, cafe and commercial units. The Irish Times, 6th December
Kilbride, Co. Wicklow An Coimisiún Pleanála (“ACP”) has struck down an appeal by a subsidiary of housing developer Lioncor against the rejection by Wicklow County Council of planning permission for 666 homes in Kilbride. The proposed development was to be part of a 1,500 home master plan with an estimated price tag of €710m on the outskirts of Arklow. It was set to be made up of 578 semidetached and terraced houses and 88 apartments, with a creche and walking bridge across the Arklow marsh and the Avoca river. The rejected large-scale residential development application is the second phase of the master plan, with a further 750 homes planned for the third phase of the development. The council had cited concerns over the construction time frame of a bridge included in the plans, the number of homes representing overdevelopment of the area, the ecological impact of the project and that the development would lead to the population targets for the area being “materially exceeded”. The Irish Times, 6th December
Agricultural Land Values Ag land values grew by a robust 9.2% year on year in Q3 2025, bringing the weighted average value for all farmland to €13,045 per acre. Marginal grassland saw the strongest annual growth at 12.7%, while prime grassland grew by 8.9%. Average prices for arable land grew by 6.9% over the 12-month period. The Border region recorded the strongest annual growth in land values at 15.4%. The Mid-East continued to see the highest average land values at €16,438 per acre, while the lowest average values were in the West at €9,100 per acre. Key factors underpinning the strength of land values in the year to date include limited supply of land and strong demand reflecting strong growth in output prices and improved farmers income levels as well as lower borrowing costs. Sherry Fitzgerald Report, 4th December
Build Costs The cost of developing an apartment in Dublin has risen above €600,000 for the first time, new Department of Housing figures obtained by the Business Post reveal. The cost increase effectively wipes out half the savings from the recent Vat cut on apartments, the figures show. As the government published a major plan to eradicate infrastructure delays, a nationwide analysis of development costs has shown the price of building all types of homes in Dublin has risen by between 2%-3% in the year. Development costs for urban apartments have risen by more than €13,000 to €605,000, while the price of a suburban apartment rose by 2% to €559,000. The total cost of building a three-bed semi-detached house in Dublin increased by more than €14,000 to €465,000. The continued rising cost of apartments in particular will add strain to the government’s attempts to address the significant decline in construction of these units. Last year, the number of new apartments built fell 24.1% to 8,763. Industry forecasts have suggested apartment completions in 2025 could be down a further 25%. The Business Post, 6th December
Greater Dublin Drainage Project Uisce Éireann has announced it has reached a legal agreement which means a major sewage treatment project, critical to the provision of housing in the capital in future, will proceed. The €1.3bn Greater Dublin Drainage Project was held up by a judicial review, but Uisce Éireann said construction contractor procurement will now commence in February 2026. In July, the project was given the green light by ACP. In September, a legal challenge was lodged against the project by Wild Irish Defence. Today Uisce Éireann announced: “The settlement was achieved following constructive engagement between all parties and avoids the need for a full court hearing. As part of the agreement Uisce Éireann committed to some additional measures, to further enhance public confidence in the environmental benefits of the project.” Uisce Éireann began a pre-application process in 2012 and an application was lodged in 2018. It was subject to an initial judicial review in 2020. Rte.ie, 5th December
Rosslare, Co. Wexford Iarnród Éireann, the port authority for Rosslare Europort, has confirmed it will seek planning permission for a major redevelopment of the Wexford port. The proposed Rosslare Offshore Renewable Energy Hub is described by the company as a “landmark” facility designed to support Ireland’s growing offshore wind industry. The €220m project is expected to create 2,000 long-term jobs in the region and support the country’s renewable energy transition. The government first signed the contract for multi-million euro infrastructure upgrade in May 2023. The plans, which will be submitted to ACP next week, outline what would be the state’s largest purpose-built port facility dedicated to offshore renewable energy. If planning approval and funding are secured, construction is scheduled to begin in early 2027, with delivery targeted for early 2029. The almost 200 acre development will feature two heavy-lift berths designed for offshore renewable energy components, storage, marshalling and assembly and a new 64-berth small boat harbour. The Business Post, 3rd December
Construction Sector Activity in the construction sector continued to decrease in November, for the seventh month in a row, according to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index from AIB. The survey said new orders continued to fall, amid further signs of demand weakness in the construction industry. The headline seasonally adjusted Construction Total Activity Index moved further below the 50 no-change mark last month, dropping to 46.7 from 48.1 in October. AIB said anecdotal evidence pointed to slowing demand and a drop in new orders, which it said meant that volumes of new projects were insufficient to fully replace completed contracts. The Construction PMI recorded a fall in activity across all three monitored categories in November as commercial registering “a renewed and solid decline in activity.” Work on housing projects fell for the seventh consecutive month, but at the slowest pace since June. Civil engineering posted the sharpest decline, as the rate of contraction accelerated from October. The report said new orders decreased for the fourth consecutive month “as companies reported weak demand and project delays.” “Commercial construction fell back into contractionary territory in November, having seen a modest pace of expansion in October,”. Rte.ie, 9th December
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Cookstown Industrial Estate, Dublin 24 Savills are quoting €2.5m for unit 9 on First Avenue, which extends to 19,919 sq. ft, of which 7,204 sq. ft are in offices. The building is being sold by Manning Construction, who has also been operating from the premises. According to Savills, it is the sole standing industrial building between 15,000-30,000 sq. ft available for sale in south Dublin. It is suitable for a wide variety of industrial uses and is zoned REGEN under the current South Dublin County Development Plan. It has a clear internal height of 6.1 metres and benefits from two roller shutter doors. It also shares a yard with its neighbour. Other businesses in the area include a strong mix of occupiers such as Phoenix Healthcare, Windsor Belgard and House of Padel. The estate is situated off the Belgard Road, providing ease of access to Junction 10 and 11 of the M50 and is within a 30-minute drive of Dublin city centre, the airport and Port Tunnel. The Irish Independent, 27th November
Cavan Town The O’Callaghan Family Group has taken ownership of the Hotel Kilmore in Cavan. While the price paid by the group to the 74-bedroom hotel’s outgoing owners, the Mealiff family, has not been disclosed, The Irish Times understands from market sources that the Kilmore secured €11m, or an average of €148,648 per key, in the off-market deal. Located in a high-profile position on the Dublin Road on the approach to Cavan town centre, the four-star hotel’s guest accommodation is complemented by the Annalee Restaurant and the Killykeen Bar. The hotel is a popular wedding banquet venue and also features two large conference suites and two smaller meeting suites. News of the transaction comes just over 16 months after the O’Callaghan Family Group completed its purchase of the 69-bedroom Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge. The group’s growing portfolio includes the Fairways Hotel and the Gateway Hotel in Dundalk, Co Louth. The Irish Times, 26th November
Oranmore, Co. Galway Connacht Hospitality Group has confirmed plans for what will be Galway’s first new five-star hotel in more than 20 years, as The Hawthorn by Galway Bay readies for opening in early 2026. The €60m development will combine a luxury hotel, a championship golf course and an experiential wellness spa. The project is rooted in a long-held vision by the late Christy O’Connor Jnr, who designed the original Galway Bay Golf Course in 1993 and envisaged the site as an international destination for golf and leisure. The Connacht Hospitality Group has spent the past decade assembling the land and assets required to redevelop the former Galway Bay Golf Resort. The Business Post, 28th November
Townsend Street, Dublin 2 A seven-storey, 434-bed hostel development has been granted planning permission at an “eyesore” location on Townsend Street. Planning permission was sought by ORHRE Management Services Limited for the 97 shared room development at a long-derelict site at the corner of Lombard Street East. The Guinness sign on 114 Townsend Street remains the only indication of its previous life as the Countess Markievicz pub. The structure of both buildings is largely intact, but number 112, once the Grand pub, is largely vacant. The site is now set for partial demolition, but the facade at 114 Townsend Street is to be retained. The new hostel rooms will be a mixture of two- to 10-bed units amounting to 434 beds for tourist use, with the addition of a ground-floor cafe and kitchen in the building, which will rise to as much as seven storeys. The upper two floors will be set back. DCC approved the development last week. A sum of €357,399 is required to be paid to the council as a development contribution, with a further €131,575 to be paid as the development is within the catchment area for the Luas docklands contribution scheme. The Irish Times, 1st December
Nationwide Soaring fit-out costs are making it hard to justify growing in Ireland, according to Curry’s Ireland, which already operates 16 stores across the country. The company has invested over €2m in recent years, enhancing its stores as it pursues a strategy of sweating more from its assets. A spokesman stated that “with the inflation that is there, it is just hard to see the payback in the short-term. It is well north of €1.5m to fit out a store to the Currys’ standard.” The Irish Independent, 25th November
Blackrock, Co. Dublin Vincent Finnegan is offering a high-profile residential site for sale by tender at a guide price of €6m. Located on Newtownpark Avenue and just 50 metres from the N11 quality bus corridor, the subject property, which extends to 1.6 acres, comprises two houses – Selandia and the Paddock – and an afterschool centre known as the Willow House Afterschool. The subject site is zoned Objective A under the terms of the DLRCC Development Plan 2022-2028. This objective supports residential development and residential amenities. The subject site is for sale by tender with the final date for receipt of tenders set for Friday, January 30th, 2026. The Irish Times, 19th November
Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Brian M Durkan Ltd is understood to have paid over the €5.25m guide price for a site close to the waterfront in Dún Laoghaire. Fitzwilliam Real Estate group (“FRE”) had secured full planning permission for 74 build-to-rent apartments on the site on Crofton Road located to the rear of St Michael’s Hospital which has been accommodating a car park and a two-storey house. The price for the 0.8 acre site was the equivalent of about €6.5m per acre which was the highest price per acre paid in Dublin during the third quarter of this year. The selling agent was Knight Frank. The approved scheme will have uninterrupted views across Dún Laoghaire harbour and have a number of amenities on its own site including a gym, and social and co-working areas. Its existing planning approval consists of a mix of 55 one-bedroom units and 19 two-bedroom units along with one commercial cafe unit over two buildings with heights ranging from part four to eight storeys. FRE had previously offered it for sale in 2019 with an asking price of €6.5m even though at the time it did not have the planning permission. FRE had also submitted an alternative strategic housing development application for 102 rental apartments and An Coimisiún Pleanála’s website showed no decision on that application by the time we went to press. The Irish Independent, 20th November
Celbridge, Co. Kildare The state has purchased around 235 acres of land surrounding the Castletown House estate for €11.25m, €4m more than it was valued at two months ago. The Office of Public Works (OPW) already owned the house itself and about 237 acres of the surrounding landscape. Minister of State at the OPW, Kevin Moran, said the agreed purchase price was supported by a business case as well as a report from Lisney, who advised in September of this year that the market value of the lands was between €7.25m and €7.5m. The lands are set to be conserved and managed as a heritage amenity, and a plan for this will be drawn up alongside Kildare County Council. The Business Post, 19th November
Cork University College Cork is to review its extensive land and property bank to identify which if any of its sites surplus to requirement might be suitable for housing/rezoning. UCC is among the 119 applications this month to Cork City Council’s call under the National Planning Framework for additional residential lands, to accelerate housing delivery. The dozens of applications span city core and fringe area, including from the likes of Cairn Homes at Lotamore, JCD Group off the Mallow Road, Jacobs Engineering for a site in Mahon, along with a raft of house builders and landowners, for tracts of land, from infill to some in excess of 100 acres on all corners of the city boundary. UCC employs over 3,000 people and has expansive land assets, including at Curraheen, North Mall and the city centre, spanning some 86 hectares, with over three million square feet of built structures over approx. 150 buildings. The Examiner, 21st November
Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow TWM has been engaged by Avondale Forest Park’s custodian, Coillte, to seek expressions of interest from parties looking to enter into a long-term ground lease for the development of between 40 and 50 guest cabins (subject to planning permission) within the grounds of the park’s 494 acre estate. Located just 1.5km south of the village of Rathdrum, Avondale Forest Park was Coillte’s most popular site in 2024, with almost 340,000 visits. The estate was acquired by the Irish government in 1904 and became home to Ireland’s first forestry school. In 2022, Coillte opened its flagship visitor attraction, Beyond the Trees Avondale, featuring a 700-metre Treetop Walk, and a 12-storey viewing tower with giant slide. In 2023, Coillte completed a refurbishment of Charles Stewart Parnell’s birthplace, the historic Avondale House, further enhancing the location’s reputation as a leading visitor attraction. The Irish Times, 26th November
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Stillorgan & Blanchardstown, Dublin Parking fees of €1.20 per hour have been introduced at Stillorgan Village Shopping Centre. The hourly charge will be in operation from Monday to Saturday between 9am and 6pm, and on Sundays and Bank Holidays between 12pm and 6pm. The car park, which is owned along with the shopping centre by Kennedy Wilson, are operated by private parking company Euro Car Parks Ireland. The announcement comes days after residents protested plans to introduce car park barriers at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. Locals were reacting to a planning application submitted to Fingal County Council in September by Blanche Retail, a subsidiary of global investment firm Strategic Value Partners, which acquired the shopping centre and car parks in February. The application includes a proposal to introduce “car parking management controls” to the multistorey and surface car parks. In 2022, the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in west Dublin introduced charges of €2.50 for the first three hours of parking, after which an hourly rate of €2.50 is in place. At the time, the shopping centre’s manager, US property giant Hines, said the fees were being introduced to grow “new and more sustainable ways to access Liffey Valley”. The Irish Times, 19th November
Oranmore, Co. Galway The Nightline Logistics Group facility at Deerpark Industrial Estate in Oranmore is being offered to the market by Harvey guiding €5.95m. The subject property comprises a detached, purpose-built warehouse and office building of 56,292 sq. ft. Developed in the year 2000 and refurbished earlier this year, the building has six dock levellers, a 47m-deep service yard to the rear and a clear internal height of 12m. Deerpark Industrial Estate is located 2km from junction 19 on the M6 motorway and 11km from Galway city. The property is let to Nightline Logistics Group Unlimited at a passing annual rent of €447,545. Should a sale proceed at the guide price, the new owner would be in line for a NIY of 6.8%. The tenant has been in occupation of the building since 2013 and in June 2023, extended its commitment to the building for a further five-year term. Nightline Logistics Group Unlimited is an Irish registered company, founded in 1992, and was acquired by US logistics giant UPS in 2017. This building is the main distribution hub for UPS in the western region of Ireland. The Irish Times, 19th November
Tallaght, Dublin 24 M7 Real Estate is seeking a tenant for its refurbished Unit K South City Business Park, Whitestown Way. CBRE is quoting €20 psf for the industrial/logistics property which extends to 16,854 sq. ft and incorporates two-storey office accommodation and secure private yard on a site of approx. 0.94 acres. Specification comprises of steel portal frame construction with an insulated metal deck roof incorporating translucent roof panels and a clear internal height of 9.6m metres. Loading access is provided via one dock leveller and one grade door with the benefit of a private and secure concrete yard. The office accommodation extends to 3,976 sq. ft and will be predominantly laid out in an open-plan configuration. South City Business Park is well-established and offers easy access to Dublin’s arterial routes such as the M50 (Junction 11) eight minutes away. The Irish Independent, 20th November
Cork City The Flying Enterprise bar and business premises has just sold for over €5m, making it the biggest bar sale across Munster this year. The vastly expanded licensed and entertainment premises includes the Courtyard Bar, a shop, off-licence, and five overhead apartments. Agent Cohalan Downing said the buyer was local, with international backing, and it would continue to run as a trading entity, with all staff retained after the O’Shea family owner’s decision to retire. Near St FinBarre’s Cathedral, the South Mall, and the Brewery Quarter, the mixed-use commercial/licensed property earns €185,000 per year in rents separate to bar income: Munster Technological University pays €105,000 a year to lease three classrooms in the building, and the five apartments add another €80,000 annually. It was this very level of combined income that drove the sale price to just under the €5.3m asking price. The Examiner, 20th November
Harmony Row, Dublin 2 Knight Frank is guiding €2.9m for the second-floor office at Unit 7, Harmony Court. Located just 400m from Pearse Street Dart station, the subject property comprises 5,536 sq. ft of fully fitted office accommodation along with four secure basement car-parking spaces. The offices are largely open-plan and are complemented by a reception and seating area, three private offices, a dedicated boardroom and a fully fitted kitchen. Unit 7 comes for sale with vacant possession. Designed by Henry J Lyons Architects and completed in 2005, Harmony Court occupies a prime location within Dublin’s central business district between Grand Canal Dock, Merrion Square and Trinity College. The surrounding area is home to a range of leading occupiers including Google, Accenture, HSBC and William Fry. The Irish Times, 19th November
Blackrock, Co. Dublin Vincent Finnegan is offering a high-profile residential site for sale by tender at a guide price of €6m. Located on Newtownpark Avenue and just 50 metres from the N11 quality bus corridor, the subject property, which extends to 1.6 acres, comprises two houses – Selandia and the Paddock – and an afterschool centre known as the Willow House Afterschool. The subject site is zoned Objective A under the terms of the DLRCC Development Plan 2022-2028. This objective supports residential development and residential amenities. The subject site is for sale by tender with the final date for receipt of tenders set for Friday, January 30th, 2026. The Irish Times, 19th November
Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Brian M Durkan Ltd is understood to have paid over the €5.25m guide price for a site close to the waterfront in Dún Laoghaire. Fitzwilliam Real Estate group (“FRE”) had secured full planning permission for 74 build-to-rent apartments on the site on Crofton Road located to the rear of St Michael’s Hospital which has been accommodating a car park and a two-storey house. The price for the 0.8 acre site was the equivalent of about €6.5m per acre which was the highest price per acre paid in Dublin during the third quarter of this year. The selling agent was Knight Frank. The approved scheme will have uninterrupted views across Dún Laoghaire harbour and have a number of amenities on its own site including a gym, and social and co-working areas. Its existing planning approval consists of a mix of 55 one-bedroom units and 19 two-bedroom units along with one commercial cafe unit over two buildings with heights ranging from part four to eight storeys. FRE had previously offered it for sale in 2019 with an asking price of €6.5m even though at the time it did not have the planning permission. FRE had also submitted an alternative strategic housing development application for 102 rental apartments and An Coimisiún Pleanála’s website showed no decision on that application by the time we went to press. The Irish Independent, 20th November
Celbridge, Co. Kildare The state has purchased around 235 acres of land surrounding the Castletown House estate for €11.25m, €4m more than it was valued at two months ago. The Office of Public Works (OPW) already owned the house itself and about 237 acres of the surrounding landscape. Minister of State at the OPW, Kevin Moran, said the agreed purchase price was supported by a business case as well as a report from Lisney, who advised in September of this year that the market value of the lands was between €7.25m and €7.5m. The lands are set to be conserved and managed as a heritage amenity, and a plan for this will be drawn up alongside Kildare County Council. The Business Post, 19th November
Cork University College Cork is to review its extensive land and property bank to identify which if any of its sites surplus to requirement might be suitable for housing/rezoning. UCC is among the 119 applications this month to Cork City Council’s call under the National Planning Framework for additional residential lands, to accelerate housing delivery. The dozens of applications span city core and fringe area, including from the likes of Cairn Homes at Lotamore, JCD Group off the Mallow Road, Jacobs Engineering for a site in Mahon, along with a raft of house builders and landowners, for tracts of land, from infill to some in excess of 100 acres on all corners of the city boundary. UCC employs over 3,000 people and has expansive land assets, including at Curraheen, North Mall and the city centre, spanning some 86 hectares, with over three million square feet of built structures over approx. 150 buildings. The Examiner, 21st November
Raheny, Dublin 5 The Little Sisters of the Poor is selling the Sacred Heart Residence, a fully operational nursing home in Raheny. The sale is being offered to the market as a going concern through Avison Young. Market sources expect it to command offers in the region of €20m. Located on Sybil Hill Road, the subject property comprises a large complex of 199,543 sq. ft on a landscaped 6.53 acre site adjacent to St Anne’s Park. It includes an 85-bed registered nursing home, 26 independent-living apartments, a chapel, auditorium, former convent accommodation and parking for 55 cars. Originally purpose-built on behalf of the sisters by Sisk in the early 1970s, the complex is divided into six interconnected blocks and offers scope to an incoming owner for immediate operational uplift. A feasibility study prepared by CWPA Planning & Architecture outlines the options for reconfiguration and redevelopment to increase the number of rooms at the complex, subject to planning permission. The property is zoned Z15 (“Community and Social Infrastructure”) under the Dublin City Development Plan 2022–2028. The Irish Times, 19th November
Dublin MetroLink plans to collaborate with the LDA, housing bodies and organisations to deliver dedicated accommodation for its estimated 8,000-strong workforce. Once the project is completed, the new housing stock could then be transferred back to the state, a spokesman from MetroLink confirmed to the Business Post. On Wednesday, MetroLink programme director Sean Sweeney told an Oireachtas committee that the 18.8km Dublin metro project will require 8,000 workers to complete, with many to be brought from overseas due to the limitations of Ireland’s workforce. “There are no firms of the scale and expertise in Ireland to run those major contracts,” Sweeney said. “They will bring a proportion of workers in and they’ll be looking to supplement that with local labour.” “The top line is that the Irish construction industry cannot support the construction of this project,” he added. MetroLink, approved last month by An Coimisiún Pleanála, will run 18.8km from Swords Estuary to Charlemont in Dublin 2. It will include 16 stations and have the capacity to carry up to 20,000 passengers per hour in each direction. The upper-end Department of Transport estimate for MetroLink stands at €23 billion, though final costs are expected to be lower. The Business Post, 20th November
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Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath Tesco is due to open its new anchor store at The Willows in Dunshaughlin in the coming weeks. With over 860 homes on-site, Hooke MacDonald is now seeking occupiers for three of the adjoining units at the development’s commercial centre. The available properties include one ground-floor retail unit and two fully fitted medical suites. All three units are positioned next to Tesco’s store, with shared surface parking and direct pedestrian access through the scheme. The retail unit extends to 1,292 sq. ft and would be suited to convenience retail, pharmacy, cafe or service retail operators and the quoting rent is €40,000 a year. The two medical suites each extend to 2,718 sq. ft and come to the market fully fitted with consultation rooms, waiting areas, HVAC and staff facilities. The quoting rent is €45,000 per suite a year. The Irish Times, 11th November
Merchants Quay, Cork City More than a decade after it left the city, HMV is making a high street comeback, with a new store set to open in Merchants Quay in time for Christmas. In a deal brokered between Savills and Bannon, the music and entertainment retailer has taken out a 10-year lease on the outlet, at a rent of €90,000 pa. Previously occupied by Dealz, which closed earlier this year, the 3,000 sq. ft unit will become the city’s newest record store. Just two other units on the mall remain vacant, with Savills in discussion with potential tenants in relation to both units. The decision by HMV to open a store in Cork, its third in the Republic, is part of a broader European growth strategy for the brand, which has also opened new stores in the UK and the Netherlands. HMV reopened its Dublin store in 2023 and a Limerick store last year. The Irish Examiner, 12th November
North Dublin The UK’s largest urban logistics property developer and asset manager is closing in on the purchase, for over €60m, of a large-scale industrial portfolio. Chancerygate is understood to have seen off competing offers for The North Gate portfolio, a collection of 12 properties distributed across a total gross external area of 341,900 sq. ft at Furry Park Industrial Estate and North Dublin Corporate Park. The portfolio, which is fully let, was offered to the market by Savills on behalf of Iput at a guide price of €55m in September. Seven of the properties are located at the Furry Park scheme while the remaining five units are located in North Dublin Corporate Park. The Irish Times, 11th November
Swords Road, Dublin 9 Chancerygate is also currently in the process of developing a logistics scheme comprising 119,500 sq. ft of space at a site on Swords Road in Santry. The new urban logistics park will comprise 13 units ranging in size from 3,600 sq. ft to 22,370 sq. ft. Airport Trade Park, as it will be known, will have a gross development value of approx. €45m upon completion. Chancerygate and its longstanding investment partner, Bridges Fund Management, acquired the Santry scheme’s five-acre site for €4.5m from Carey Building Contractors in 2022. The site’s former owners had used the property previously for office accommodation and civil engineering yard space. In addition to Dublin, Chancerygate also has European offices in Madrid and Lisbon. The Irish Times, 11th November
Newtown, Co. Dublin Rohan Holdings is seeking an occupier for Drake House, the new large-scale logistics facility it is developing with Castlebrowne Construction at Dublin Airport Logistics Park. Joint agents Cushman & Wakefield and Savills are marketing the building, which at 289,192 sq. ft is the largest stand-alone logistics unit being built in the Dublin market at present. Construction of the property started in the third quarter of this year and practical completion is expected in the second half of 2026. Drake House will have a clear internal height of 59 ft, giving occupiers far more storage capacity than that offered by the prevailing market standard of 46 ft. The building will have loading access via 24 dock levellers and four loading doors. In terms of its sustainability, the building is targeting BREEAM Excellent certification and an A3 Ber rating. The Irish Times, 11th November
Grangegorman, Dublin 7 Commerz Real has paid €22.35m for the Swuite student accommodation complex in Grangegorman. The development, with 128 beds in 123 rooms across five floors, was acquired from its developer, the Iveragh Group, in an off-market transaction. The complex will be rebranded as Grangegorman House and operated on Commerz Real’s behalf by Mezzino, a company specialising in student apartments in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Each of the Swuite complex’s 123 rooms has a private bathroom, while groups of six to eight rooms share a communal kitchen. The building also features common areas that include lounges, study rooms and a cafe. The scheme is currently fully let and is expected to benefit long-term from the strong demand for student housing in Dublin, which has about 90,000 third-level students at present. Swuite is located next to TUD’s main campus at Grangegorman. Commerz Real was advised on the transaction by Savills, while the seller was advised by Cushman & Wakefield. The Irish Times, 11th November
Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 Iput has secured permission to demolish part of the Harcourt Centre and build a new office block on the site. The company applied for permission in July to knock down blocks 2 and 3 of the Harcourt Centre and build a new 11-storey building on the site. The proposed new development, which would span approx. 196,000 sq. ft, would replace the existing eight-storey structure on the corner of Harcourt Street and Charlemont Street. Dublin City Council has now approved the proposal by Iput, paving the way for a large expansion of the existing 86,000 sq. ft building on the site. Most of the new building would be made up of 189,000 sq. ft of office space, with a further 6,500 sq. ft set aside for cultural or community space and a small café. The Business Post, 18th November
Hook Peninsula, Co. Wexford. Loftus Hall has been sold for €3m. The property, which sits on 68 acres overlooking Hook Peninsula and Hook Lighthouse, has been acquired by investor Patrick McDermott. He is also the founder of Meath-based Star Stone Property Group, whose portfolio includes High Street Ashbourne, which it acquired for €12.5m, and Southgate Shopping Centre in Drogheda, which it purchased for €13.2m. Star Stone has completed a number of deals in Dublin and Cork with backing from London-based bookmaker and owner of Star Sports Ben Keith, and Brighton FC owner Anthony Bloom. Loftus Hall briefly comprises a detached nine-bay, three-storey house with a total gross internal area of 26,487 sq. ft. In 2022, Paddy McKillen jnr and Matt Ryan’s Oakmount paid €1.75m to acquire Loftus Hall and set about restoring and converting the property into a boutique hotel. While offers of €4m were sought initially, Mr McDermott moved to secure ownership of the property when the price was reduced to €3m. The Irish Times, 11th November
Swords, Co. Dublin A 1.38 acre site at Forster Way, currently in use as a car park, is being offered to the market by JLL with full planning permission for the development of 79 apartments at a guide price of €6.2m. Located just 50 metres from Main Street in Swords, the subject site currently comprises a 105 space surface-level car park. The facility is being operated by Euro Car Parks on a short-term contract and produced a net operating income of €395,000 in 2024. There is scope to increase the car park’s revenue with an additional 29 car spaces recently delineated within the site’s boundary. The site’s medium to longer term potential is contained in the planning permission granted by Fingal County Council in July 2024 for 79 apartments, 2,248 sq. ft of retail space and a two-storey senior citizen centre extending to 8,686 sq. ft. The approved development is to be laid out over six storeys over a single-level basement. The Irish Times, 11th November
Dublin Evara is understood to have paid approx. €50m for three south Dublin sites with the potential for more than 600 new homes. The price equates to an average of €1.22m per acre. The land in Kilternan is located on opposite sides of the recently opened Glenamuck District Distributor Road. The land involves two separate acquisitions extending to a combined 21 acres. These are zoned for housing and have potential for 350 new homes, subject to planning permission. Evara envisages a mix of two-bed, three-bed and four-bed homes with planning applications due to be lodged this year and early in 2026. The Citywest land extends to 20 acres and is zoned for residential development. Proposals are currently going through the LRD pre-planning process with South Dublin County Council and Evara expects that a planning application could be lodged later this year. It is proposing to develop 269 homes as part of a combined 611 home planning application being lodged in partnership with an adjoining landowner. The Irish Independent, 13th November
Tralee, Co. Kerry A development land bank with rental income in Tralee has come to the market through McQuinn Property Services guiding €4.5m. With prospects for up to 140 homes as well as a major student village, the land extends to 32.8 acres is in the suburb of Ballybeggan adjacent to Munster Technological University in Kerry Technology Park. Fully zoned under the Tralee development plan, it is available in one or multiple lots: Lot 1 zoned R1 residential extends to 13.38 acres; Lot 2 zoned C7 – Education, Innovation & R&D extends to 17.14 acres; Lot 3 zoned C2.1: Industrial, enterprise & employment includes a commercial yard with residential unit and extends to 1.72 acres; Lot 4 zoned Buffer/conservation/amenity/landscape protection extends to 1.2 acres. A feasibility study by Kane Williams Architects indicates that the C7-zoned lands could support a student village for up to 900 students and this site is guiding €2.1m. The Irish Independent, 13th November
Swords, Co. Dublin Quantum Property Consultants are guiding €2.5m for 7.66 acres located on Cooks Road, Forrest Great, Swords. The land contains some large steel frame constructed agricultural buildings with corrugated exterior steel façade, measuring approx. 30,000 sq. ft. There are also some temporary cabins on site. The proposed Metro Link station at “Ridgewood” is approx. 3kms away. There are currently 20 operators utilising the site with verbal agreements in place producing an annual income in the region of €156k which is set to increase to approx. €250k in January 2026. No formal lease agreements are in place. The site is located in an area that is designated “Greenbelt” under the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2026. Quantum Property Consultants Press Release, 14th November
Drogheda, Co. Louth Paul Anderson is preparing to build 172 apartments and a six-storey hotel next door to the Scotch Hall shopping centre. Anderson bought the Scotch Hall mall for approx. €21m in 2023. In separate applications filed with Louth County Council in recent weeks, Hall Scotch Venture 2, a company associated with Anderson, applied to build the schemes on the two adjoining sites. It is looking to build a €36m apartment development, comprising five six-storey blocks. It will include a crèche and three retail units, and be located just 100m from the mall. In 2021, the previous owner of Scotch Hall, developer Gerry Barrett, sought to build 275 apartments, including a 12-storey block, on the site, but its planning permission was quashed by the High Court. If the hotel is approved, it will comprise 107 bedrooms, a lobby, bar and dining area, with reserved car parking spaces allocated in the shopping centre car park. Drogheda is without a large operational hotel after the D Hotel, which is also adjacent to the shopping centre, was used to provide accommodation for international protection applicants. That contract is due to expire in March and its renewal is uncertain. The Sunday Times, 16th November
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Kevin Street, Dublin 2 Camden Yard is set to come back on the market after a European real estate fund failed to close its acquisition of the site by last Friday. Orange Capital Partners (OCP) had been in exclusive negotiations to purchase the site since last August, having submitted a €91m offer, just above the €90m guide price. OCP failed to complete the purchase by last Friday and instead sought an extension to its exclusivity period at a reduced offer price. The receivers, John Boland and Nicholas O’Dwyer of Grant Thornton, are understood to have rejected the proposal and are now preparing to invite new bids for the site. Despite its prime location, Camden Yard has been hit by repeated delays and financial problems. Work was halted in September 2024 when the project ran into difficulties, before it was placed into receivership by its lenders. The Currency reported in August 2025 that contractors, who are owed over €10m, were seeking assurances from OCP about payment and future work in relation to the site. The Currency, 31st October
Dawson Street, Dublin 2 Having come to the market at the end of August, number 54, which is fully let to a range of occupiers, sold in just eight weeks for €3.25m (5.85% gross yield) to a private investor. The price paid represented a 14% premium on the €2.85m which had been guided by Colliers. Located immediately adjacent to the Dawson Street Luas Green Line stop and within a short walk of Grafton Street, the 4,882 sq. ft property is fully let and generating €189,650 in annual rental income from four tenancies. It has a weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) of just over 2 years to break and 7.6 years to expiry. The ground floor and basement level are let to Carebrook Partnership Ltd, trading as Pret A Manger, on a 15-year lease commencing February 2022 at €110,000 pa, with a tenant-break option in February 2029. Knight Frank advised the Purchaser. The Irish Times, 29th October
Galway City Centrepoint, a fully let office block at Liosbán Business Park, is being offered for sale by Harvey at a guide price of €2.75m. The property, which extends to 16,881 sq. ft, is let to Galway County Council, at a passing rent of €280,000 a year, equating to €16.60 psf. The tenant occupies the building under a 10-year full repairing and insuring lease commencing in December 2024, following their original lease which began in 2006. The lease includes tenant-break options in June 2030 and December 2031 along with a rent review scheduled for December 2029. Centrepoint is occupied by the council’s Environment Water Services unit. A €2.75m sales price would equate to a 9.25% yield and an underlying capital value of only €163 psf. The Irish Times, 29th October
North Wall Quay, Dublin 1 Knight Frank is quoting a rent of €65 psf for new office space at the Heysham, a nine-storey property comprising a total of 25,000 sq. ft of office accommodation. Located beside the headquarters of the Central Bank and Dublin Landings, the building is being made available to let on a floor-by-floor basis with floor plates ranging in size from 2,500 to 3,000 sq. ft. The office accommodation has 2.7m floor-to-ceiling heights, a business lounge within its reception area along with a range of on-site facilities that include 60 bicycle parking spaces. A joint venture comprising Derek McGrath’s Core Capital and Paddy McKillen jnr’s Oakmount acquired the property with the Brennan family as equity backers in 2019 from Arthur Molloy and Michael Sherry, of Molloy & Sherry Logistics for approx. €10m. The Brennan family’s Fusion Investments has since assumed full ownership of the building. The Irish Times, 29th October
Newmarket Square, Dublin 8 Digital marketing agency Dept has agreed a deal with the Rhatigan Group for new offices at Newmarket Square. Dept will occupy all three floors (7,271 sq. ft) of Thomas Burgh House on a new 10-year lease. While the rental level has not been disclosed, the company is understood to be paying about €42 psf. Known formerly as St Luke’s Church, the building was restored and redeveloped as an office building by the Rhatigan Group and served as its own Dublin headquarter offices until recently. The building’s office space and breakout areas have views through its original church windows while the property is surrounded by landscaped gardens with seating and secure bike parking. The Irish Times, 29th October
Swords Road, Co. Dublin Windward Management has signed a new long-term lease for the fourth-floor penthouse offices at Corballis Hall. While the rent has not been disclosed, The Irish Times understands the company has agreed to pay approx. €35 psf for its accommodation. Completed in 2020, the subject property comprises 19,999 sq. ft of sustainable grade A office accommodation. The building’s floor plates are regular in shape, with 32 underground car-parking spaces coupled with secure bike-parking spaces. The building carries an A3 BER rating. Three floors are still available, with an average size of 5,300 sq. ft. Corballis Hall is located within a five-minute drive of the M50 and M1 motorways. The adjacent Dublin Airport campus is home to more than 200 businesses, which together employ more than 19,000 people. The Irish Times, 29th October
Eastpoint Business Park, Dublin 3 Enterprise Ireland, the state agency with responsibility for promoting Irish-owned companies, is weighing up a move from its Eastpoint business park headquarters. The agency has hired CBRE to see whether it can find more than 118,000 sq. ft of office space in Dublin City. When the agency moved into newly built offices in Eastpoint in 2006, it brought all of its 650 employees in Dublin under one roof. The letting was one of the largest in the office market that year, with Enterprise Ireland agreeing to pay approx. €22 psf. It occupies two office blocks in the business park, comprising approx. 142,000 sq. ft. It signed two separate leases, paying an annual rent of over €1.85m for each office block. Both leases are due to expire in 2031 but the agency has a break clause in 2027. The Sunday Times, 2nd November
CBRE Report The deglobalisation threat and the subsequent volatility in goods tariffs around ’Liberation Day’ led to some hesitancy among occupiers in the industrial sector in Dublin in early 2025. However, occupiers began to re-engage with decision-making as the year progressed. This momentum continued into Q3, where take-up was solid, if not spectacular, but there is now visibility on a potentially bumper quarter of deal closures ahead in Q4. Dublin take-up totalled approx. 550,000 sq. ft in Q3, down 10% on Q2, but taking total YTD 2025 deal activity to approx. 1.77m sq. ft, 60% ahead of the same period in 2024. The largest transaction of Q3 was JMC Van Fleet’s lease of an approx. 151,000 sq. ft refurbished facility at Ballymount Logistics Hub (owned by M7 Real Estate). A number of impending deal closures point to an imminent uplift in rental levels before year-end, with prime rents projected to exceed €14.0 psf. CBRE Q3 Industrial & Logistics Report, 30thOctober
Clonmel, Co. Tipperary A 20-acre residential development site near Clonmel town will go for public auction on 18th November. Joint agents Sherry FitzGerald Pollard FitzGerald and REA Stokes & Quirke are guiding an advised minimum value of €2.2m. It is believed that a developer might get permission to build up to 20 homes per acre as demand is strong in the town and the site will benefit from its extensive frontage onto the R688 Clonmel-Cashel Road at Ard Gaoithe. This location represents one of the last remaining major zoned residential landbanks in close proximity to Clonmel town. The lands are level, easily accessible, and positioned on a key gateway route. The property is surrounded by well-established residential neighbourhoods and positioned within walking distance of Clonmel’s largest employment hub, home to leading global companies including Boston Scientific and Abbott Vascular. The Irish Independent, 30th October
Clonburris, Dublin 22 The State’s Housing Agency has entered into a contract with Cairn Homes to deliver 332 apartments for sale to owner-occupiers at a newly built town under a scheme designed to bridge the affordability of apartment construction. The one- and two-bedroom apartments will be available for €225,000 and €350,000, respectively, at Seven Mills, a new urban development on the banks of the Grand Canal between Clondalkin and Lucan. The contract will comprise 83 one-bedroom and 249 two-bedroom units. The housing body said its call for proposals under the Croí Cónaithe scheme, which closed in August, generated more than 40 submissions for nearly 6,000 apartments. The scheme was launched in 2022, aimed at subsidising the cost of building apartments to address the viability gap for the sale to owner-occupiers. The scheme is expected to spend €450m to support the delivery of 5,000 apartments by the end of 2027. Cairn Homes had initially agreed prices for one- and two-bedroom apartments of €245,000 and €365,000 respectively under the scheme. However, the reduction of the VAT rate on apartments in the budget from 13.5% to 9% further reduced the cost. The Irish Times, 3rd November
MSCI/ SCSI Returns index Retail warehousing retained its position as the strongest performing sector of the Irish investment property market in Q3. Retail warehouse capital values rose 1.7% in Q3 bringing their 12-month growth to 5.27%, values which have not been seen since June 2023. The sector’s recovery was partly due to a 0.93% rise in rents during the quarter bringing its annual rental growth to 9.16%. On the back of stable rents, Grafton Street capital values rose 1.33% in the quarter, paring back its annual losses to 0.14%. Investors achieved healthy 2.93% Q3 returns from Grafton St trophy properties and 6.16% over the 12 months. However, the tentative signs of a recovery seen in shopping centres at the start of the year appear to have run out of steam as rents stagnated during the quarter, paring back their annual improvement to 1.8%. But capital values for these centres fell by a sharper 2% during the quarter and 2.9% over the 12 months. In overall terms, office rents have been firming up slightly over the last nine months with a further 0.3% rise in Q3 leading to a 0.8% rise over 12 months thanks to city centre properties. However, in capital value terms offices stagnated during the quarter and have declined 2.4% over the 12 months. Most offices built between 1970 and 2009 saw their values fall by about 1% during the quarter and by between 4% and 8% over the 12 months depending on their age, quality and location. The Irish Independent, 30thNovember
Junction 6, Dublin 15 Manna Air has been refused retention planning permission by Fingal County Council on a site in west Dublin, where it has been operating a drone delivery hub. The permission was sought by the drone company on September 8th. It related to the development of an aerial delivery facility, an existing switch room, perimeter metal fencing, and all associated site works necessary to facilitate the development at the Junction 6 centre in Blanchardstown. However, it was refused by the council on three main grounds, including incompatibility with existing land uses, a lack of detail on the noise impact and the “visually incongruent” nature of the steel fencing. A spokesman for Manna told the Business Post that the company has now removed the two rubber landing mats at the site and will appeal the decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála. He added that in the meantime, it will serve the local community from its other hubs, including one near the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, which is unaffected by this refusal. The Business Post, 31st October
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