British property investor acquires Dublin 8 industrial estate

British property group U+I has acquired a 2.84-acre industrial estate in Dublin for an undisclosed sum.

The company announced it had acquired the White Heather industrial estate on the South Circular Road in Dublin 8 on Monday. The site comprises seven warehouse buildings and a three-bedroom period home.

Although it didn’t indicate its plans for the site, U+I noted in a media release that it had “exceptional development potential with frontage directly overlooking the Grand Canal”.

In September real-estate company Lisney advertised the site for sale through public tender. It said the investment produces rental income of €542,000 per year from five tenants, including An Post, which operates a sorting office from the site. At that time it was reported the site could sell for about €7 million.

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Although U+I seems likely to develop the site, the nearest break options on the leases are 5.4 years, according to Lisney’s ad. However, rent increases are “predicted”, it said, given that there are rent reviews within the estate in 2019 and 2020.

"Dublin 8 is a wonderfully historic part of Dublin, and as a result White Heather piqued our interest the moment it came on the market," said U+I's Dublin-based development director, Arlene van Bosch.

“Each acquisition is a restatement of our commitment to growing our footprint in Dublin, a market that really motivates us, and this acquisition follows a number of exciting announcements for U+I in the Dublin market over recent weeks.

"We recently secured the first letting as part of our flagship mixed-use Donnybrook House development, while we broke ground on our redevelopment of Ballymoss House in Sandyford in recent weeks. This comes on the back of us having received the go-ahead in November from An Bórd Pleanála to revolutionise the iconic Carrisbrook House in Ballsbridge, " Ms van Bosch said.

The White Heather industrial estate is near the Liberties and minutes away from St James’s Hospital and the new National Children’s Hospital.

U+I has a €10.6 billion portfolio and has been steadily expanding its Dublin presence since 2012. Among its major completions thus far is the letting of the Vertium Building to Amazon and the mixed-use Percy Place development on Haddington Road.