Henry Street stores make over €30 million

Irish Life has emerged as the top bidder for a block of five shops on Dublin's Henry Street which form part of a mixed portfolio of commercial properties to be sold on behalf of Bank of Ireland. Other successful bidders for the investments have included the Davy Irish Property Fund, New Ireland and Burlington Reit Management.

Irish Life bid in excess of €30 million for the shops at 18-21 Henry Street and 6-8 GPO Arcade, which are producing a rental income of €1.4 million. Joint agents CBRE and Savills had been guiding €26 million for the investment, which is now likely to show a return of little more than 4 per cent. The shops are occupied by HMV, Vision Express, Boots, Stars & Stripes and Tiger and have an average unexpired lease term of 5.25 years. The same five shops were bought more than a decade ago by Arnotts Pension Fund for a figure believed to have been in excess of €50 million.

Davy Irish Property Fund, formerly the AIBIM Managed Fund and the Prescient Property Management Fund, is due to complete contracts shortly to acquire 20 on Hatch, Hatch Street, a high-quality office development, for over €26 million.

The six-storey over basement building with a floor area of 4,129 sq m (44,400 sq ft) is let to Met Life and Covidien at an overall rent of €1.35 million. The rent breaks back to €318 per sq m (€29.60 per sq ft) at a time when the rental value is calculated at €387 per sq m (€36 per sq ft).

Mary Street deal

Another investment fund, New Ireland, now part of State Street Global Advisers, has reappeared on the scene to buy the JD Sports building at 43/44 Mary Street for a price believed to be in excess of the €15 million guide price.

The tenant is paying a rent of €820,000 for the three-storey building, which has an overall floor area of 1,158 sq m (12,472 sq ft). The store is directly opposite the Jervis shopping centre and was owned in recent years by businessman Liam Smith, of Clyde Road, Ballsbridge.

Another city retail investment, Carluccio’s, on the corner of Dawson Street and Duke Street, looks set to be bought by a private investor for somewhat over the €5 million guide. The 120-seat restaurant pays a rent of €287,500.

Meanwhile Burlington Reit Management is in poll position to buy a number of retail investments, reportedly in conjunction with an overseas partner. These include the Tesco supermarket at Upper Rathmines Road, which is producing a rent of €440,000 under a lease which runs until 2023. The mainly single-storey supermarket extends to 1,773 sq m (19,094 sq ft) and has a 70-space car-park to the rear. It is likely to sell for well in excess of the €7.5m guide price.

Burlington has also apparently secured eight retail units with an overall floor area of 4,237 sq m (45,614 sq ft) at Beacon South Quarter, which has a rent roll of €547,341. The selling agents had been seeking in excess of €7 million for the shops let to leading furniture retailers including Bo Concept, Roche Bobois, KUBE and Classic Furniture.

Nutgrove Centre

Separately, Burlington is also buying the Nutgrove Centre, Rathfarnham, a retail complex with a total floor area of 5,660 sq m (60,934 sq ft). CBRE and Savills had been guiding €11.9 million for the complex, where the tenants include

Lidl

,

Home Store

& More and Pet World.

The centre forms part of a cluster of three retail schemes which includes the Nutgrove Shopping Centre and the Nutgrove Retail Park.

Separately, negotiations are continuing on the final property in the portfolio, a 33 per cent interest in Kilmore House, an office block at Spencer Dock in the north docklands, which was developed by Treasury Holdings. The agents have been seeking €25.3 million for the one-third stake in the building, which extends to 10,280 sq m (110,667 sq ft) and is producing a rent roll of €1.5 million.