With the demand for well located retail investments at a particularly high level in Dublin city centre, the Savills agency is expecting lively bidding for a mixed-use retail and office building at 4-5 Trinity Street which is for sale by private treaty.
Savills is guiding €1,725,000 for the four-storey over-basement period building which is within three minutes’ walk of Grafton Street and directly opposite the newly revamped French bistro Pichet.
The mid-terraced building has an overall floor area of 353 sq m (3,800 sq ft) with retail use on the ground floor and offices overhead. The ground floor and basement are occupied by estate agents Douglas Newman Good (DNG) on a new 20 year lease at a passing rent of €80,000 per annum. The three upper floor are rented by StoryToys, a publisher of children’s apps, whose short term lease runs out in less than two years. It is paying a rent of €30,000 per annum – equating to €140 per square metre or €13 per square foot, well below the going rate for a prime city centre location.
Sought after
Brendan Delaney of Savills says the investment will be much sought after because of its lot sized and the fact that it will provide an attractive return of 6.1 per cent with the prospect of higher rents in a relatively short term.
Numbers 4-5 Trinity Street served as a booking office for Butlins holiday resort for many years and was sold after the UK company closed down its Mosney holiday camp in Meath in 1982.
Another, considerably smaller, building next door at 3 Trinity Street was sold 12 months ago by agent JLL for almost €850,000 – about €155,000 above the guide. The building was revamped and upgradedbefore it was rented recently to a coffee chain.