Irish Life is to pre-fund a high specification distribution complex under construction at Rosemount Business Park in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. The fund is paying almost £8 million for the building, representing a yield of 6.6 per cent.
Irish Life's decision to buy into Rosemount, like Bank of Ireland Asset Managers, is a strong endorsement for the park, which is being promoted by Lark Developments. The 76,531 sq ft building, which includes 1,500 sq ft of offices, has been let to Viking Direct, the Irish subsidiary of the US multinational office supply company. It stands on a site of 4.8 acres.
The tenant will be paying a rent of £5.90 per sq ft on a 20-year lease with a break clause set for year 15. Viking specialises in direct sales of office supplies and had sales of over $9 billion worldwide last year.
Irish Life plans to include the Rosemount investment in its Irish Property Fund, which is now valued at over £300 million.
The first section of Rosemount, covering an area of 12 acres, has over 1.7 million sq ft of buildings; occupants include Irish Express Cargo, Variety Foods, House of Denmark and Europa Freight.
Almost two-thirds of the space to be developed on an adjoining 356 acres has already been committed, according to James Meagher of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald. Jones Lang LaSalle are joint agents.
Lark is also seek planning permission for a further 25 acres fronting on to the M5O, near the intersection of the Navan Road.
Lark Developments, run by Tony Murray, is also the owner of 280 acres on the Meath/Dublin border in Clonee, which has been identified for rezoning for industrial use. Meath Co Council is expected to confirm the rezoning in November. Once that has been done, Lark plans to seek planning permission for around 2.5 million sq ft of office and high tech buildings. The site is close to the Kepak plant and the new IBM complex.
Lark Developments is also involved in a number of housing developments including those in Johnstown, Co Kildare, and in Athlone.
