€40m of industrial sales at Ballycoolin in last year

SOME PARTS of the industrial market are continuing to trade well despite the overall slump in the property market.

Nowhere is bucking the trend more than Northwest Business Park, the sprawling 200-acre park at Ballycoolin, near Blanchardstown in Dublin 15, owned by Michael Cotter’s Park Developments.

The company has achieved sales of around €40 million in the past year covering a mixture of design-and-build deals, a number of speculatively built blocks and five starter buildings within the Northwest Enterprise Centre.

Park Developments has completed around 65,030sq m (700,000sq ft) of building over the past decade in Northwest which has benefited from its strategic location close to the N3 and N2 dual-carriageways. The location puts it within striking distance of the M50, Dublin Airport and the Dublin Port Tunnel.

Further infrastructural improvements are under way, including the widening of the Ballycoolin Road which is due to be completed next year. Plans to open a direct link between the N2 and N3 will also have a major effect.

The success of Northwest means that it is now the second largest hub outside the Naas Road area. And unlike the Naas Road, Ballycoolin has another 50 acres of land ripe for development.

One of the deals completed by Park this year includes the design and build of a 2,787sq m (30,000sq ft) building for Hales Freight at a cost of €5.07 million.

Deli Meats also chose Northwest for its new headquarters, a 2,560sq m (27,555sq ft) hi-bay facility which cost the company €6 million. Java Republic paid €3.9 million for a building of 2,219sq m (23,885sq ft) which will be used mainly for roasting coffee beans. The deal also includes a half-acre site for future development.

Other companies which bought into the park include: Usher Bathrooms (4,645sq m/50,000sq ft); Goodbody Colour Coating (2,137sq m/23,000sq ft); Ardex Building Products (1,860sq m/ 20,000sq ft); National Plastic Packaging (1,486sq m/16,000sq ft); and Alpha Care (1,395sq m/ 15,000sq ft).

Park also had considerable success with sales at Northwest Enterprise Centre where a total of 34 units have been completed ranging in size from 238 to 434sq m (2,562 to 4,672sq ft).

A total of 1,650sq m (17,760sq ft) of buildings have been sold in this facility for €3 million, with four units remaining available at selling prices from €1,775 per sq m (€165 per sq ft) or to rent at €105 per sq m (€10 per sq ft).

Gavin Butler of Savills HOK says that Park can provide new buildings on a design-and-build basis from 1,000 to 25,000sq m (10,764 to 269,100sq ft).

The company is building four new units of 605 to 1,500sq m (6,512 to 16,146sq ft) which will be ready to move into in the spring of 2009.

Butler says that the number of letting transactions is set to increase over the short term as some companies needing additional space are finding it difficult to get funding to purchase. For that reason lettings with purchase options were likely to become the norm over the short term replacing the preference in recent years to buy rather than to rent.