A DUBLIN property investor and retailer has emerged as the new owner of the former IPC office building opposite Ballsbridge Motors at Shelbourne Road, Ballsbiridge, Dublin 4. He paid slightly under £3 million for the block in a deal which will give him a net yield of 9.1 per cent.
The 22-year-old building and another office block, Grattan House, at Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2, have been sold by Irish Life for a combined figure of almost £6.5 million in a further move to withdraw funds from the Dublin office market.
The State agency, Forbairt, is the main tenant in the building, which is currently producing an income of close to £300,000 per annum. Irish Life took over the block from IPC in recent years and let it on a floor by floor basis.
The four-storey over ground level block has a floor area of 25,390 square feet and 62 ground-level car-parking spaces.
The two office investments were among six office blocks offered for sale last year by Irish Life just as the market was about to recover from a long-running recession. One of the investments, Frederick Court, at North Frederick Street, Dublin 12, which is occupied by Telecom Eireann, was subsequently taken off the market.
The centrepiece of the portfollio, Hume House, opposite the American Embassy at Pembroke Road, Dublin 4, was also withdrawn by Irish Life when it looked like being sold for around £10.5 million.
High-yielding office buildings, with financially secure tenants and long leases, have become increasingly attractive to investors over the past year. The upturn in investment demand follows a record take-up of office space in 1995 and indications that new accommodation will become scarce. Agents also report that investors' traditional preoccupation with location has taken second place to their concern about security of income.
While Irish Life has apparently decided for the moment against reducing its exposure in the Dublin office market, it has opted to sell its European property portfolio in various lots after failing to find a single buyer. The company had been hoping to secure £78 million for its 14 office and retail properties in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. The European office market has been in the doldrums for a considerable period.
A spokesman has said that Irish Life wants to concentrate its investments in Britain and Ireland.
