Irish Life’s spending spree on top quality retail and office investments has been extended into the industrial market where it has bought a high bay logistics building in Fonthill Industrial Estate in Dublin 22, for €6.25m. The transaction will show an initial return of 9.50 per cent.
The detached warehouse extends to over 5,045sq m (54,313sq ft) and is let to Whirlpool under a 20-year lease from 1999 at a current rent of €635,000. The building is located on a high-profile corner site in Fonthill, one of Dublin’s premier industrial estates which is near Liffey Valley shopping centre.
The park has a mix of both distribution and retail warehouses. Adjoining occupiers include United Drug, DID Electrical, SuperValu and An Post. Traders in the retail park include Home Store and More, Right PriceTiles, Lidl, Power City and Costa coffee.
The key attraction of the area for distribution/logistics operators is the ease of access to both the city centre and the national motorway network.
With little or no speculative development under way in the industrial sector and continuing strong occupier take-up particularly in the south-west of the city, rents and capital values are rapidly recovering. Experts say further rental growth will be required to justify new speculative development.
Martin O’Reilly of Irish Life said the acquisition of the Fonthill building offered a rare opportunity to acquire a modern warehouse in a top-tier estate with secure income guaranteed by the Whirlpool Corporation.
