With a wide range of overseas funds clamouring to buy high-quality investment properties in Dublin, the timing could hardly be better for the planned sale of the Boylesports bookmakers-occupied retail building at the junction of Grafton Street and Suffolk Street in Dublin 2.

Diane Crean of Savills is guiding €4.5 million for the five-storey over-basement building which is rented at €352,000 per annum and will show a net initial return of 7.49 per cent.

Though bookmaker shops are precluded from trading on Grafton Street under the planning guidelines, Boylesports found a legitimate way around the conditions by opening in a building previously occupied by Irish Permanent Building Society. The company, which has 182 retail branches throughout the country, took a 20-year lease of the Grafton Street premises from 2003 with no break options.

Separate access
The ground and basement are fitted out as a bookmakers and there is a separate street access to the upper floors which are used as offices and sub-let to the Suffolk Street Surgery.

Boylesports is located along one of the busiest stretches on Grafton Street which is frequently packed with tourists. Ms Crean says she expects strong bidding for the investment because of the lot size and the strength of the covenant.

Close to the top of Grafton Street, number 46 – let to Hutchinson 3G Ireland Ltd – was recently sold for about €6 million. It is rented at €445,000 per annum under a lease which has another 13 years to run.