The Beckett Building on Dublin’s East Wall Road has returned to the market following the collapse in recent weeks of a deal to sell the North Docks office block.
Having first been offered for sale on behalf of receivers John Boland and Nicholas O’Dwyer of Grant Thornton in May 2024 at an already heavily discounted guide price of €35 million, the building was on the verge of being acquired by London-based Roundstone Capital. The proposed transaction, which was in advanced legals, fell through in late August however.
Roundstone’s withdrawal from the process comes just more than one year after another party, Irish-headquartered real estate and investment manager BCP Capital, reversed its own decision to buy the Beckett Building for about €35 million.
The property is now being brought for sale by agent Colliers at a new and even lower price of €25 million. Although the figure is understood to be close to the amount that Roundstone Capital had been set to pay, it represents a reduction of 69 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 75 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.
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This is the second time the Beckett Building has been 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 the 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 parent Meta.
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Although Meta has now vacated the property, 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 sq ft, excluding the building’s car parking spaces.
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 offering 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 Dublin 3 is within a 15-minute walk of Point Square, the 3Arena, the Convention Centre and the Luas red line.
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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 2022-28.
Richard Bielenberg of Colliers says: “We are seeking a purchaser with a vision for the building, post Meta’s break option in July 2027. We believe mixed uses to include retention of some office space, part change of use to self-storage or a low-intervention residential model are options worth considering.”
