Offices:The Leeson Street headquarters of one of the largest commercial property investment players in Ireland is on the market, writes Gretchen Friemann
IPUT, the largest tax-exempt property unit trust in the state, has decided to sell its Leeson Street headquarters as part of an ongoing strategy to concentrate on larger-scale sites.
The office block, located just off St Stephen's Green, is likely to fetch over €15 million and will appeal to investors and owner-occupiers alike.
Over the past few years, the Irish Property Unit Trust has been behind some of the most significant investment deals in the state with the purchase last September of a €120 million stake in the Pavilions shopping centre in Swords, as well as the €45 million acquisition of the Dillon Eustace building in Dublin's docklands.
At the same time, IPUT has been steadily offloading some of its smaller properties.
In 2005 the institution sold 3M house in Dún Laoghaire for €6.4 million to a group of private investors.
According to Niall Gaffney, deputy chief executive at IPUT, the sale of 86-88 Leeson Street is a continuation of that strategy.
One of the key selling points of the four-storey, 1,520sq m (16,361sq ft) modern building is the 31 car-parking spaces; an unusually large number for both the size and location of the property.
But investors are also likely to be concentrating on the development potential of the 875sq m (9,418sq ft) site.
IPUT's headquarters takes up less than half that space and selling agent, HT Meagher O'Reilly, estimates that, subject to planning permission, the property could be extended by a further 1,200sq m (12,917sq ft) if a new building was constructed over the rear car-park.
Internally, the property, which has a reproduction Georgian façade, is finished to a very good standard with open-plan air-conditioned floors served by a six-person capacity passenger lift.
IPUT's decision to relocate its offices means the new owner of the site will have vacant possession of the ground, first and second floors.
Corus Ireland and Finaref Insurance occupy the third and fourth floors of the building, generating an annual rent roll of €258,000.
Finaref's lease will terminate in May 2008, while Corus's 35-year contract expires in 2012.
According to its latest annual report, the overall return to IPUT unit holders in 2006 was 25.8 per cent. The fund's portfolio of 60 properties is valued at over €1 billion.
