Agent Savills is guiding a price of €11.75 million for a portfolio of prime commercial properties distributed across Upper and Lower Liffey Street in Dublin city centre and the suburbs of Ranelagh and Blackrock.
The Liffey Portfolio includes eight investment assets in total, extends to 1,857sq m (19,989sq ft), and currently generates a net passing rent of €487,500 per annum. This has the potential, however, to increase to an estimated €850,000 annually once the vacant elements of the portfolio are leased and forthcoming rent reviews are completed. Based on that scenario, the prospective purchaser could expect to secure a gross income yield of 7.23 per cent.
The Liffey Portfolio offers a well-balanced north city centre and south Dublin location spread. It comprises numbers 23, 31, 34 and 35 Liffey Street Upper, 32 and 34 Liffey Street Lower, Dublin 1, a vacant two-storey restaurant building at 27 Ranelagh village and two mixed-use investments located at 232 Rathmines Road Lower, Dublin 6, and 23 Rockhill, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Number 232 Rathmines Road Lower is located next door to Starbucks at the Swan Shopping Centre in Rathmines. The ground-floor portion was recently let to Oxfam for a term of 20 years at an initial rent of €77,500 per annum, with a pre-agreed fixed increase to €85,000 effective from 2022.
Other tenants within the portfolio include Irish Permanent TSB plc, the Blackrock Cellar off-licence and All Rooms homeware.
Notwithstanding the current rental income stream and the upside achievable through immediate leasing initiatives, the Liffey Portfolio also offers the purchaser opportunities for an even higher return in the medium term.
Subject to planning, an additional two floors of office accommodation at 23 Rockhill, Blackrock, could be added to the existing structure.
Further diversity
A change of use from commercial to residential use at first-floor level in Ranelagh and Rathmines would add further diversity to the overall use mix and income profile. Meanwhile, the sites on Liffey Street Lower adjacent to The Grand Social bar/restaurant are a prime development opportunity, with a variety of options that could be realised in tandem with the proposed delivery of the Liffey Street plaza development being championed by Dublin City Council.
Savills’s head of general retail agency, Stephen McCarthy, says: “The Liffey Portfolio offers investors the opportunity to acquire a diversified mix of prime city centre and south Dublin commercial properties with immediate potential to significantly enhance the current rental income stream in tandem with short- and medium-term asset management/development initiatives.”
