Meta’s Dublin docklands office for sale at knockdown price of €35m

The long-awaited sale of the Beckett Building on Dublin’s East Wall Road gets under way today, with agent Colliers guiding €35 million for the property on behalf of receivers John Boland and Nicholas O’Dwyer of Grant Thornton. The price represents a reduction of 56 per cent on the €80 million figure that had been mooted when CBRE first offered the building for sale in January 2023, and an even steeper discount of 65 per cent on the €101 million South Korean-headquartered Kookmin Bank paid when they acquired it from Luke and Brian Comer’s Comer Group in 2018.

This is the second time the Beckett Building has become the subject of a receivership sale since being built by the late Liam Carroll’s Zoe Developments in 2007. Having lain dormant for four years following its completion, the property was sold on the instructions of receivers acting for the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to Luke and Brian Comer’s Comer Group for just €5 million. The Comers are understood to have spent a further €30 million on the building’s fit-out before letting it to Facebook (Meta).

While Meta has now vacated the Beckett, the social-media giant remains responsible for its annual €5.75 million rent and all outgoings until the break option of its lease on July 31st, 2027. The current rent equates to €29.30 per square foot, excluding the building’s car-parking spaces.

Should a sale of the property proceed at its €35 million guide price, that income would provide the purchaser with a net initial yield of 14.9 per cent and a capital value of just €185 per square foot after standard purchaser’s costs of 9.96 per cent.

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The Beckett Building extends to 17,487sq m (188,228sq ft) and is laid out as modern grade A office accommodation over six floors with rooftop terraces and large wraparound balconies with views of the Dublin skyline. The building has a selection of tenant amenities on site, together with 400 designated bicycle spaces and 77 car-parking spaces.

The building on East Wall Road in the North Docks in Dublin 3 is within a 15-minute walk of Point Square, The 3Arena, The Convention Centre and the Luas red line. The wider north docklands has seen significant investment and regeneration over recent years and is now firmly established as an extension to Dublin’s central business district.

In terms of its potential, the Beckett sits on land zoned as Z14: Strategic Development and Regeneration Areas, which permits and encourages a range of uses including residential, student accommodation, hotel, and employment and economic activity, all in accordance with the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028.

Commenting on the sale, Richard Bielenberg of Colliers said: “Assuming Meta exercise their break option in July 2027, we believe the scale and configuration of the building lends itself to a low intervention change of use or a splitting of the floor plates.”

Stephen Conway of Colliers’ capital markets team added: “We are expecting strong interest in the property, which offers an excellent opportunity for an opportunistic buyer looking to create value with a strategy underpinned by blue-chip income in the short term.”