US fund pays €27m for Dublin HQ of Bord Gáis

A US investment fund has moved swiftly to buy a large new office block at Mount Street Bridge in Dublin 2 for just over €27 million after the UK insurer Prudential attempted to renegotiate the purchase price following months of protracted negotiations.

The American fund will get an initial return of 7.25 per cent on the purchase of the eight-storey office building, 1 Warrington Place, at the junction of Lower Mount Street and Warrington Place in Dublin 2.

It is rented by Bord Gáis and is acknowledged as one of the best office buildings completed in Dublin in recent years.

Ann Hargaden of Lisney said that when Prudential attempted to renegotiate the price, they immediately contacted the underbidders and the next in line was given first option. She said in the end they managed to get the same price as that offered by Prudential. James Meagher of HT Meagher O’Reilly was joint selling agent.

The sale is only the second major disposal of a Dublin office block by Nama. Last year the agency secured € 99 million from Google for a newly built high-rise block developed by Treasury Holdings beside Grand Canal Dart station.

Warrington Place, a 5,211sq m (56,103sq ft) building, was first offered for sale last September following the transfer of the Anglo Irish Bank development loan to Nama by David Arnold of D2 Private.

Bord Gáis is currently paying a rent of €2.1 million per annum, equating to a base rent of €392 per sq m (€ 36.50 per sq ft).

The 25-year lease provides for rent reviews every five years and includes a break option in year 10. The new owners have agreed to accept Nama’s offer of vendor funding of up to 70 per cent of the loan-to-value rate at a premium of 3 per cent above the standard bank rate.

The sale is only the second major disposal of a Dublin office block by Nama