Receiver appointed to Dublin docklands office block let to WeWork

Deloitte step in to recover debt on building acquired by South Korean Reit for €106.5m in 2018

No 2 Dublin Landings: South Korean REIT company JR AMC paid €106.5 million for the block in November 2018
No 2 Dublin Landings: South Korean REIT company JR AMC paid €106.5 million for the block in November 2018

Deloitte have been appointed as receivers to No 2 Dublin Landings, a 100,000sq ft office building fully let to flexible workspace giant WeWork in the city’s north docklands.

One of five office blocks built by Seán Mulryan’s Ballymore in partnership with Singaporean-headquartered Oxley at their wider one million sq ft mixed-use Dublin Landings development, the building was acquired by KanAm Grund on behalf of Hana Financial Investment and the South Korean real estate investment trust, JR AMC for €106.5 million in November, 2018.

While the owners had considered a sale of the property for up to €140 million through joint agents CBRE and Savills as recently as 2022, they ultimately decided against that course of action. A more recent attempt to refinance the building faltered after its tenant, WeWork, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US last November.

WeWork continues to operate from the building and is contracted to pay a rent of €5.38 million annually.

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The appointment of Deloitte as receivers comes on foot of JR AMC’s default on a €60 million loan from the German bank Helaba.

The move comes just over two weeks after Interpath Advisory, the company headed by former KPMG restructuring veterans Eamonn Richardson and Kieran Wallace, was appointed as receiver to North Dock, a newly developed office scheme distributed across two blocks next to the 3Arena in Dublin’s north docklands.

TIO an umbrella fund involving Nama, Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital and Bennett Construction, developed the scheme as one of Dublin’s first nearly zero energy buildings. North Dock extends to 18,766sq m (202,000sq ft) in total, distributed between North Dock One (8,826sq m/95,000sq ft) and North Dock Two (9,940sq m/107,000sq ft).

While TIO’s borrowings on the development came from a number of financial institutions, its main lender, AZ Debt Investment Fund Pimco Commercial Real Estate Lending Fund, is owed some €120 million according to the Currency website, which reported on the receivership first.

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Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan is Property Editor of The Irish Times