Michael Moran’s Seabren sits tight on €59m sale of high-end apartments in south Dublin

While the ongoing retreat of pension funds and other institutional investors from the private rented sector in the face of rising interest rates is leaving many developers with little choice other than to sell their new-build apartment schemes to a Government-supported buyer, Seabren Developments – the company led by Michael Moran of Red Cow Moran Hotel – isn’t prepared to go down that particular road just yet.

Having offered Rockbrook, the 91-unit high-end scheme his company is developing in the south Dublin suburb of Blackrock to the market at a guide price of €59 million last February, joint agents Cushman & Wakefield and Sherry FitzGerald New are understood to have received several offers in and around the €54 million mark for the portfolio. Moran didn’t bite, however, and is said to be weighing up his options in advance of the development’s practical completion in the final quarter of this year. And who could blame him? Given the ongoing dearth of supply in the Dublin residential rental market and with Rockpoint’s selling agents expecting apartments there to generate income of €2,600-€4,000 per unit per calendar month, Moran could well be rewarded for sitting tight, for now at least.

The Seabren chief isn’t alone in this regard. As reported by The Irish Times last month, Hibernia Real Estate Group (formerly Hibernia Reit) has pressed the pause button on the sale of the portfolio of 293 rental apartments it owns in the nearby suburb of Dundrum. Hibernia had offered the units which are distributed across Dundrum View and Wyckham Point for sale through agent CBRE at a guide price of €140 million-€150 million but is said to sitting tight for now, notwithstanding the fact that it received a number of bids within its desired price range.

Seabren acquired the 0.5-hectare Rockpoint site for its part from developer Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group in 2020 for about €7.5 million. At the time of that sale the former Europa Garage lands had planning permission in place for a smaller development of 42 apartments and nine houses. Moran’s company went on to secure planning permission for the present scheme from An Bord Pleanála in 2021 in the face of objections from a number of parties including the former president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox; and the Department of Tourism.

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Aimed towards the upper end of the private rented sector market, the development will, upon completion, consist of a mix of 49 one-bedroom apartments, 38 two-bedroom apartments and three three-bedroom units distributed across two blocks, along with 71 underground car-parking spaces. Rockpoint is located just off the Frascati Road (N31) and within a short walk of both Seapoint and Blackrock Dart stations and Blackrock village itself.