€20m sought for Dublin retail units

Royal Liver Assurance has put a portfolio of retail investments in Dublin on the market - just a week after a similar shake-up of its office interests in the city.

The company is seeking close to €20 million for retail investments on four secondary streets off Grafton Street, which it has owned for decades.

Last week, the assurer separately put three office investments on the market at an asking price of almost €50 million. The company is apparently anxious to reinvest the proceeds of both sales on new retail and office investments which are still producing strong returns in the city.

The most valuable of the retail investments going for sale by tender is 8 South Anne Street, which is expected to sell for €6.7 million. The building is let to Gotham Cafe at a rent of €190,000 a year.

Also for sale is Duke House on Duke Lane, which is occupied by the mens' fashion shop, Alias Tom. Its rent of €166,050 is due to be reviewed at the end of this year. Close by, at 24 Duke Street, Royal Liver is guiding €4.5 million for the Louis Feraud building, which is rented for €133,322. A rent review has been outstanding since last year.

The fourth building, for sale for more than €3 million, is at 8 Lemon Street, where the tenant, bookmaker Paddy Power, is paying a rent of €86,000 a year.

DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, which is handling the sale of both the retail and office investments, claims that there is scope to redevelop the three Dublin office blocks that Royal Liver has put up for sale, including 96-102 Lower Mount Street, which is rented by Irish Life and is expected to make more than €22 million. The current rent of €918,000 would give a net yield of 3.71 per cent, but this figure is expected to rise to 4 per cent when the rent is reviewed next December.

The second block for sale, Garryard House at Earlsfort Terrace, is occupied by Equant Network Services International on a 35-year lease that is due to run to 2011. The passing rent of €628,520 is currently under review.

A price tag of €8 million has been placed on 13 Pembroke Row, which is rented by Bord Fáilte Ireland at €340,000 per annum. This would give an investor a return of 3.8 per cent.