As office rents in the heart of Dublin hit record highs a business park in the south of the city has just gone on the market with almost a quarter of its offices still vacant.
Office rents in Dublin are expected to rise by a further 15% by the end of 2014
Mount Pleasant Business Park in Ranelagh is being sold on the instruction of receivers RSM Farrell Grant Sparks which hopes to realise at least €3m [£2.4m] from the sale. The Dublin 6 property is expected to generate strong interest from investors seeking both exposure to the Irish capital’s rising office investment market and those seeking long term value and opportunities.
Formerly a Tayto crisp and snack factory, the site was redeveloped during the 1990s and transformed into office space. Each unit is self-contained, but agent Knight Frank says it is willing to consider the disposal of the business park in single or joint lots.
Mount Pleasant is currently 76 per cent occupied by nine separate businesses. Between them they generate in excess of €375,000 [£308,000] a year in rent.
The growth in the Dublin office market has dramatically boosted the profile of sites such as Mount Pleasant and Knight Frank expect it to attract private investors seeking smaller scale quality real estate assets. The majority of the units are 160sq metres in size divided between two floors, laid-out in an open plan format, and would be suitable for creative businesses such as architecture, IT and digital design companies.
At the top end of the market, prices and rents have rocketed as international money pours into Dublin closing numerous property sales way above their original list price. The Platinum Portfolio of four office buildings in the city’s Grand Canal Dock recently sold for 40per cent above the National Asset Management Agency asking price. And One Grand Canal Square came to market at around €75m [£61.7m] — ultimately selling for €93m [£76.5m].
This year’s biggest deal was the €311.5m [£256.5m] acquisition of Dublin’s Central Park business centre, by a conglomerate of Green REIT, Kennedy Wilson and Pimco. The development of office and residential apartments was originally offered by Nama for €250m [£206].
It’s sales like this — and the fact that new office construction only just beginning for the first time since 2008 — that have pushed prime Dublin office rents to as much as €35 [£28] a square foot, with the prospect of rising by another 15 per cent by the end of 2014.
