Fund to pay €140m for top-rated office scheme on Ballsbridge site

A German-based real estate fund, Patrizia, has paid in the region of €140 million for The Oval office development at Shelbourne Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. The off-market deal is the largest investment transactions in the city so far this year.

Adrian Trueick of Knight Frank handled the sale.

The Oval, a strikingly modern office and retail buildings located between the Shelbourne Road and the river Dodder, was developed in 2006 and 2007 by four low-key Dublin investors, Phil Monahan, Pat Ryan, David Colgan and Finian McDonnell. It is fully let and producing a rental income of €7.4 million, giving the German fund a yield of more than 5 per cent.

The site of the building includes a strikingly high original redbrick chimney which once formed part of a laundry dating back to 1912. The name of the business was changed to the Swastika Laundry in 1939 and despite being a symbol of the Nazi party in Germany the name and the logo continued to be used until the 1980s.

The industrial chimney had a giant swastika inscription emblazoned on it for much of the time.

The Oval is a particularly attractive mixed-use development with more than 16,722sq m (180,000sq ft) of grade A offices as well as ground floor retail units and a basement gym.

Office rents generally are about €452 per sq m (€42 per sq ft) but with the Comer Group pitching for €645 per sq m (€60 per sq ft) for new office currently under construction on the opposite side of Shelbourne Road at One Ballsbridge, yields in The Oval look set to improve as rent reviews are completed.

The Oval is laid out in three interlinking blocks. Building One fronting on to Shelbourne Road is multilet and extends to more than 6,596sq m (71,000sq ft). The largest tenant, Avolon Aviation, occupying two floors, was recently acquired by Bohai Leasing in a transaction valued at $7.6 billion. Other occupiers in this block include Partner Re, Tableau Software and Murex. Building One also includes a 250sq m (2,700sq ft) Centra convenience store at ground level.

Building 2 with a floor area of 5,501sq m (59,223 sq ft) and 50 car parking spaces is let to Eirgrid, the State owned independent electricity transmission system operator, under a 25 year lease from 2007.

Building 3 with a floor area extending to 234sq m (25,284sq ft) is multilet to a range of tenants including Amedeo, Harvest and Tableau. Starbucks and Mink occupy the ground floor retail units with the ground floor gym the responsibility of Energie Fitness.

Patrizia has, like many other German funds, been active in the Dublin market in recent years and recently acquired 63 apartments at the North Circular Road entrance to the Phoenix Park from a US investor for €15 million.