O’Connell Street corner building with 1916 links seeks €2.65m

A landmark building on the corner of O’Connell Street and Bachelors Walk in Dublin 1 which stills bears the scars of the 1916 Rising has come on the market for more than €2.65 million.

The property, at 56 Lower O’ Connell Street and 34 Bachelors Walk, was taken over by the rebels during the Rising – most probably because of its prominent position overlooking O’Connell Bridge, which affords clear views up and down the river Liffey.

O’Connell Street was subsequently shelled by British forces to oust its rebel occupiers and the corner building suffered considerable damage as a result.

Even today, according to selling agent Brian Gaffney of Murphy Mulhall, bullet holes can still be seen in parts of the building.

Before the rising, 34 Bachelors Walk was home to George Butler and Sons musical instrument makers and, curiously, 56 Lower O’Connell Street was run by Martin Kelly and Son fishing tackle manufacturers and gunpowder importers.

The corner building at the time of the Rising even had large outdoor advertising announcing it as a “Gunpowder Office”.

The building was restored after the Rising but, in 1920, still displayed broken windows on the upper floors.

Receiver sale

Today, these prominent corner buildings are being sold on the instructions of receivers

Stephen Tennant

and Paul McCann of

Grant Thornton

.

They extend to 355.48sq m (3,827sq ft) on five floors over a basement, and generate a rent roll of €182,000 per annum. Some €50,000 of this comes from the outdoor neon advertising to the front of the buildings which is held on a long-term licence.

The tenant line-up includes Starbucks and La Que boutique on the ground floor (which also incorporates the basement), while the upper floors are occupied by language school, the Dublin Cultural Institute.

There is separate access to the upper floors.

“This is a rare opportunity to acquire a high-profile mixed-use property with good-quality tenant covenant throughout,” says Mr Gaffney. “We expect extensive local and national interest from a wide range of investor groups and individuals, especially as the investment will show an attractive net initial yield of 6.57 per cent.”

Back in July 2007, at the height of the boom, Elverys paid key money of more than €100,000 to secure the lease for 56 Lower O’Connell Street. O’Connells newsagents had occupied the ground floor and basement (67sq m or 721sq ft in total) at a rent of €75,000.