THE ALLIANCE Building located in the iconic cylindrical Gasworks estate in Dublin’s Ringsend has finally sold to international property investment firm Kennedy Wilson for €40 million.
The company purchased the property with its partner Fairfax Financial through Savills from Grant Thornton, which acted as appointed receiver on behalf of Ulster Bank.
The 210 apartments in the nine-storey block have an annual rent roll of €3.5 million.
The sale will throw some light on values of residential apartment blocks in Dublin, since not too many similar deals have been concluded here in recent times.
The 202 two-bedroom apartments in the building – there are also eight one-beds on the ground floor – are rented at an average of €1,300 a month.
However, what makes the block unique – and no doubt most attractive – is that 80 per cent of the units are rented by staff from Google’s European headquarters in the adjoining office campus.
The €40 million sale price works out at about €190,000 per apartment.
By the sound of it this may not be the last value proposition Kennedy Wilson has spotted here. According to Mary Ricks, president and chief executive of Kennedy Wilson Europe: “We are seeing significant opportunities in the residential space, particularly in Ireland, and this transaction is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to building our business there.”
