€9m for apartment scheme

THE CHOICE of investment properties available to Irish and overseas buyers is steadily increasing with the launch today of a marketing campaign for an entire development of 62 apartments and penthouses next to the North Circular Road entrance to the Phoenix Park in Dublin 7.

David Browne of agent HT Meagher O’Reilly is seeking €9 million for the high quality scheme which was completed 12 years ago by Tony Gannon’s Unicorn Homes. The investment will show a net yield of 7.78 per cent.

The broad mix of apartments in Park Lodge are fully occupied and are producing a rent roll of €823,000 per annum. The location has proved extremely popular from the start – beside the Phoenix Park and five minutes walk from the Luas at Heuston Station which travels past the Four Courts to the city centre. The five-storey apartment block is also a few hundred yards from the newly-built Criminal Courts of Justice on Infirmary Road.

Park Lodge was developed on the site of the old Park Lodge Hotel, once a popular venue for cattle dealers attending nearby markets and later a regular haunt for staff in the adjoining Garda headquarters. The high-spec apartment block has helped to improve this part of the North Circular Road which had become somewhat dated in recent years.

The apartments have a mix of styles and attractive facades incorporating Victorian-style brickwork, cedar cladding and zinc cladding at penthouse level. The glazed balconies and stainless steel handrails add to the contemporary style along with cleverly positioned uplighters and downlighters.

All access points to the building are covered by an advanced CCTV system. Two lifts provide full access to the various levels from the basement where there are 58 car-parking spaces.

Apartments on the upper floors have clear views over a good part of the 1,752-acre Phoenix Park and much of the inner city.

The mix of apartments includes 16 one-bedroom units with an average floor area of 52sq m (555sq ft) which usually rent at between €750 and €1,100 per month. Most of the rental income comes from 36 two-bedroom homes with an average floor area of 78sq m (844sq ft) which are let at between €1,000 and €1,250 per month. There are also 10 three-bedroom penthouses averaging around 101sq m (1,087sq ft) which rent at between €1,450 and €1,600.

The €9 million valuation equates to around €115,000 for one-bedroom apartments, €145,000 for two-bedroom units and €195,000 for three-bedroom homes. These prices are about 20 per cent lower than if the apartments were offered for sale on an individual basis.

BRAY PORTFOLIO €2.5M FOR 14 APARTMENTS

JOINT AGENTS GVA Donal O Buachalla and Sherry FitzGerald are seeking €2.5 million for a fully let apartment investment portfolio within a gated development close to Bray town centre.

Fourteen apartments, five of them penthouses in three blocks at Wilford Court, are producing total rents of €199,200 per annum and will show a gross yield of 7.96 per cent and a net yield of 7.6 per cent.

The penthouses with three double bedrooms have wrap-around balconies with views of Bray Head and the Sugar Loaf and are let at €1,500 per month.

Three-bedroom duplex units are rented at €1,200 per month while ground floor apartments are leased at €850 per month. The development was completed in 2007.