Ronan office block in D4 goes on sale for €10 million

A DUBLIN OFFICE block owned in a personal capacity by developer Johnny Ronan goes on sale today at an asking price of €10 million.

Adrian Trueick of agents HT Meagher O’Reilly is handling the sale of Temple Chambers at 3 Burlington Road, Dublin 4, which was developed by Ronan around same time as he and Richard Barrett launched Treasury Holdings. That company was recently declared insolvent with total debts of €2.7 billion, including €1.7 billion from the State’s National Asset Management Agency.

Other significant investment properties owned by Ronan include an office block on Herbert Street as well as Connaught House on Burlington Road which is rented by a number of companies including the former Anglo Irish Bank and estate agents CBRE.

Property experts are convinced that Ronan will have no difficulty in offloading 3 Burlington Road because of the strength of the covenant at a net return of 9.5 per cent.

The distinctive six-storey building is let to leading law firm Eugene F Collins under a long lease with more than 10 years unexpired. It has an overall floor area of 1,832 sq m (198,719 sq ft) over six levels along with surface parking for 17 cars.

The investment is currently producing an income of €990,000 per annum under a 25-year lease from 1998. While the lease is on a full repairing and insuring basis with upwards-only rent reviews every five years, a new owner can hardly bank on an increase in the rent roll for some time given that the current rent of €505 per sq m (€47 per sq ft) is well above the going rate, even in Dublin 4.

The block, located on a high profile corner on Burlington Road, was built in the early 1990s and let originally to solicitors Matheson, previously known as Matheson Ormsby Prentice. That firm later moved on to another Ronan-owned building on Herbert Place before settling for a new block in the south docklands.

The property features a reinforced concrete construction with a brick and aluminium panel facade and a partially glazed facade at penthouse level. There is a boardroom, meeting rooms and a library on the fifth floor, and a mixture of open-plan and cellular offices on the remaining floors.

Trueick said that with a combination of a prime city centre location and a secure long-term income the investment was likely to appeal to both domestic and overseas investors. The return of 9.5 per cent compared very favourably with other opportunities on the market and reflected a significant premium over long-term office yields, he said.