OfficeMarket: A high profile office block opposite the RDS in Dublin 4 has been sold to four private investors, writes Jack Fagan
One of the three office blocks at the Sweepstakes, opposite the RDS in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, has been sold to four private investors for €55 million. The yield will be 4.5 per cent - the second lowest in the city for an office investment after the recent AIB sale and leaseback deal at 4.25 per cent.
Warren Private Clients acquired the high profile investment from Roy Strudwick of Ryde Developments which developed the Sweepstakes office complex 12 years ago. He later sold two office blocks to the Eircom pension fund and retained a third building after letting most of it to the UK serviced office provider Regus and the balance to Barlo and Global Crossing.
The 5,293sq m (57,000sq ft) block is currently producing a rent roll of €2.73 million after being reviewed about a year ago. The rent equates to €457.40 per sq m (€42.50 per sq ft) while the 69 car-parking spaces in the basement and at surface level are let at €3,175 each. The rent is only marginally behind the €495 per sq m (€46 per sq ft) set for the sale and leaseback of the 30,379sq m (327,000sq ft) of space in the extended AIB bank centre.
Regus occupies three of the five floors in the block while the balance is rented by Barlo which was taken over about two years ago by businessman Sean Quinn.
Pat McCormack of Palmer McCormack, who handled the letting of the Sweepstakes when it was first completed in 1993, advised Ryde on the sale which has yet to be completed. Fergus O'Farrell of Hamilton Osborne King advised Warren Private Clients.
Mr Strudwick's company is currently developing a high quality office building of 12,077sq m (130,000sq ft) at Grand Canal Harbour, a new office and residential quarter in the south city docks. Palmer McCormack is quoting a rent of €538 per sq m (€50 per sq ft) for the building which is due to be completed next May. There will also be 1,858sq m (20,000sq ft) of retail space, including a convenience store of 1,114sq m (12,000sq ft) which is available at €595 per sq m (€55 per sq ft). Smaller retail units will rent at around €914 per sq m (€85 per sq ft).
The prospects of finding a tenant for Ryde's block have been considerably enhanced by the decision of 02 and two of the city's largest legal firms to relocate to Grand Canal Harbour. 02 is to occupy a building of 9,940sq m (106,993sq ft) which is due to be completed next year. McCann Fitzgerald is building an office block and has already agreed a sale and leaseback deal that will provide the principals with a once-off payment of up to €35 million.
Last month, the businessman Sean Dunne agreed terms to lease Riverside IV, an office block of 12,077sq m (130,000sq ft) to solicitors Matheson Ormsby Prentice.
