O’Connell St block guiding €10m

A large block of retail and office properties at O'Connell Street, Abbey Street and Sackville Place in Dublin city centre with considerable opportunities to increase the rent roll goes on the market today through Savills at a guide of €10 million. The portfolio is owned by Markland and Ballymore Holdings, two companies associated with the successful developer Sean Mulryan who is heavily involved in the London development market.

The multi-let portfolio is currently producing a rent of €646,853 which will give a net initial yield of 6.19 per cent. There are 14 tenancies in place and eight other units vacant. The various properties extend to over 3,572sq m (38,449sq ft) of which 850sq m (9,153sq ft) are retail units over basements and 1,639sq m (17,651sq ft) are offices on the upper floors.

The remaining 1,081sq m (11,645sq ft) are either rented by two public houses or are in leisure facilities. The other tenants include Ladbrokes, Paddywagon Tours, the Tourist Office, Londis and Saks Hair Salon. Marguerite Boyle of Savills, handling the sale, said some of the buildings in the Spire Portfolio offered "genuine asset-management opportunities in the short term".

Value-added opportunities

As well as the potential to let vacant space in such a prime location, a new owner could initiate significant asset-management and value-added opportunities through tenant discussions, refurbishments and securing the necessary planning consents. The row of five-storey over-basement properties along O’Connell Street are close to

Clerys

and have retail units at street level and offices overhead. The opening of the Luas cross-city service in 2017 is set to substantially increase the number of pedestrians using Sackville Place.