Investments: A high profile retail investment on a corner site in the heart of Temple Bar - currently housing Milanos restaurant - is producing a rent of €115,000 and also has capital allowances of €342,293

Retail property investments with tax breaks were once all the rage in Dublin's Temple Bar area.

One of the few such investment opportunities to return to the market in recent years is about to be marketed by agent Hamilton Osborne King.

The agency is quoting over €4.5 million for the Milanos restaurant premises at 19 East Essex Street where there is 16 years years remaining on the lease.

The lease is guaranteed by Pizza Express Limited which operates over 300 restaurants in the UK and Ireland.

The high quality premises at ground floor and basement level extends to over 256sq m (2,756sq ft) and occupies a high profile corner position at the junction of Essex Street and Eustace Street in the heart of Temple Bar.

The building was constructed in 1997 and has a street frontage of 20 metres (66 feet).

The property is let to Agenbite Limited (trading as Milanos) on a 25-year repairing and insuring lease from June 1997, with 16 years unexpired.

The current rent is €115,000 and, based on recent rental evidence in the area, a significant increase in rental income is expected when the next review takes place in June 2007.

Meanwhile, a purchaser can avail of capital allowances of €342,293 which should bring the initial yield up to an effective 4 per cent.

The upper floors of the property are held under 501-year leases from 1997.

The lease of the restaurant is guaranteed by Pizza Express which has a Dun and Bradstreet rating of 5A3.

Recently, the business had a profit before tax of £29.5 million (€43.2 million) on a turnover of £207 million (€303 million).

Pizza Express is part of Gondola Holdings plc which has a market capitalisation of £477 million (€698.375 million).