€5.8m sought for apartments off Baggot Street

A four-year-old apartment development off Lower Baggot Street in Dublin city centre goes for sale today as a single investment with a guide price of €5.8 million.

All 24 one and two-bedroom units are currently occupied and producing a rent roll of €437,100. If the asking price is achieved, the property will show a gross yield of 7.5 per cent.

Ivan Gaine of DTZ Sherry Fitz- Gerald is handling the sale of William Beckett House on Pembroke Row on behalf of Michael Coyle of HWBC/Allsop, who was appointed a fixed charge receiver by Danske Bank.

Convenient location

The five-storey block with a basement car park was developed for two directors of Galway building company O’Mahony Finnerty. Last September Bank of Scotland (Ireland) also appointed a receiver to the company’s new homes division.

A number of Irish as well as overseas investors are expected to pitch for the apartment building because of its high quality fit-out and prime location in the central business district.

The convenient location within easy walking distance of most parts of the south inner city has meant that the apartments are continuously let and there is often a waiting list for units that become vacant.

There are 15 two-bedroom apartments, which rent from €1,350 to €2,300 per month, while the remaining nine one-beds fetch between €1,200 and €1,400. City rents have strengthened considerably over the past year.

If the asking price is achieved, two-bedroom homes will have a value of about €260,000; one-bedroom units will change hands at about €180,000, while 13 car parking spaces will be included at about €20,000 each.

All the homes have good quality fittings and furniture including Neff electrical appliances, granite countertops in the kitchens and an expensive bathroom suites.

Although relatively new to the Dublin market, multi-family apartment blocks sold exceptionally well last year in the greater Dublin area with turnover easily exceeding €100 million.

Irish investors

Californian investor Kennedy Wilson bought 210 apartments in The Alliance building at the Gasworks in Dublin 4 for €40 million and later paid €27 million for another 119 units at Sandford Close in Ranelagh. An Israeli investor has just agreed to acquire 62 apartments next to the North Circular Road entrance to the Phoenix Park, Dublin 7, for €9.6 million.

Last spring, the UK-based Comer Group paid €14 million for 96 two-bed apartments next to the Crown Plaza Hotel in Blanchardstown Town Centre and a further €8.5 million for 83 unsold apartments in Milners Square at Santry, Dublin 9.

Around the same time, a small group of Irish investors paid close to the asking price of €3.75 million for 27 apartments and three retail units owned by independent TD Mick Wallace at Upper Dominick Street in Dublin 1. Shortly before that an overseas investor bought 22 apartments for about €3 million at Errigal House on Eglinton Road in Ballsbridge.

Estate agents are expecting more than 1,000 Dublin apartments built in recent years to be offered for sale in large lots over the coming year.