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Irish Independent
03-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Optimism for investment outlook despite dip in second-quarter deals
Nevertheless, that brought the first-half investment figure to almost €940.4m which, while down on the €1.74bn of the previous six months, was ahead of the €671.7m in the first half of 2024. Meanwhile, the number of deals in the first half of 2025 fell to 47 which was the lowest number of first-half deals in more than five years and compares with 59 in the second half of 2024. US investor Realty Income Corporation was a major player in both the first and second quarters of this year. In Q1 it bought a portfolio of eight retail parks from Oaktree Capital Management for €220m. In Q2, Realty purchased another portfolio of retail parks from Pat Crean's Marlet group for €123.5m. That trio comprised Belgard Retail Park in Tallaght, Dublin 24; the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda, Co Louth; and Poppyfield Retail Park in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Realty's purchases helped to bring retail's share of the investment market to 46pc, up from 41pc in the first half of 2024 and well over the low single-digit market shares seen in both first halves of 2021 and 2022. Giorgio Ferrari of Colliers says that retail accounted for €437m of the deals in the first six months of this year, offices for €270m and hospitality for €86m. The office sector also saw a recovery in market share, up from 19pc in the first half of 2024 to 30pc in the corresponding period of this year, boosted by a €394m spend in Q2. The largest office deal of the quarter saw German investor Deka Immobilien acquiring 20 Kildare Street from US real estate firm Kennedy Wilson for €74.5m. A second office deal saw Pontegadea, the investor arm of Zara founder Amancio Ortega, acquire Ten Hanover Quay in Dublin docklands from Kennedy Wilson and Nama for €69m. Looking forward, Stephen Aherne of TWM estimates that there are about €1.3bn worth of deals currently available, with approximately €400m under offer. 'It is anticipated that bids will soon be solicited for a number of transactions, suggesting a potentially strong conclusion to the year,' he said. 'Steady momentum is gathering. We expect to see strong performance in other sectors in the market for H2.' Niall Gargan of JLL acknowledges that the weak second quarter was due to tariff announcements causing uncertainty. 'As financial markets regain stability and a trade agreement between the EU and the US appears imminent, optimism is growing that the recovery anticipated at the start of 2025 can begin in earnest in the second half,' he added.
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Marlet secures €238m refinancing deal for College Square development
Developer Pat Crean's Marlet Property Group and its partner M&G Investments have secured a €238 million refinancing facility with Standard Chartered for College Square, the landmark office scheme they have developed in Dublin city centre. Standard Chartered acted as sole underwriter, mandated lead arranger, and hedging bank for the transaction, which is understood to have been completed late on Wednesday night. It qualifies as a Green Loan under the Green Loan Principles due to College Square being one of the most sustainable buildings in Ireland, having achieved LEED Platinum Certification and targeting WiredScore Platinum and A3 BER ratings. Commenting on the deal, Marlet's CEO Pat Crean said: 'We are delighted to have closed our first financing facility with Standard Chartered. This new facility brings us through the next chapter of the College Square development while Workday completes preparations to occupy the building and our PRS platform, DUBLIV, completes the leasing of the residential units.' READ MORE Ronan O'Dowd, global head of commercial real estate at Standard Chartered said: 'This green loan financing facility underscores our commitment to backing transformative developments that deliver long-term value for communities, investors, and the city itself.' News of the refinancing deal comes just seven weeks after Marlet and M&G completed a deal with US technology giant Workday for some 38,648 sq m (416,000 sq ft) of the office space at College Square. The company's accommodation represents the entirety of College Square's 'super-prime' office space and is the equivalent of five and a half football pitches. The College Square deal is the largest single office letting to have taken place in the European office market since 2021. The US enterprise technology giant's decision to base its operations there was first revealed by The Irish Times in August of last year. Developed on sites occupied formerly by Apollo House and the neighbouring College House, College Square is a major mixed-use scheme comprising a total of 50,170 sq m (540,000 sq ft) of LEED Platinum office accommodation and 1,580 sq m (17,000 sq ft) of retail space distributed over 10 floors. The development has an overall height of 22 storeys owing to the inclusion of 58 high-end apartments on 12 floors above the office element of the scheme.
Irish Independent
29-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
US tech giant Workday earmarks $468m for Dublin HQ in 20-year lease deal
Workday confirmed last month that it had inked an agreement with M&G Real Estate and Pat Crean's Marlet Property Group to lease the entire space at the new city centre College Square development. It's being constructed on the site of the former Apollo House and is almost complete. The deal for the 416,000sqft of super-prime office space marked the single largest transaction in the sector in Europe since the pandemic. In its first quarter results released this month, Workday confirmed the amount it has set aside for the lease of the new Dublin office. Dublin's office market is poised for 'significant recovery' this year 'During the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we entered into a new operating lease agreement for our European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland which has not yet commenced, with total undiscounted lease payments of $468m,' it told investors. 'The operating lease is expected to commence in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 with a lease term of 20 years.' The lease deal was a major coup for Marlet and the broader office market. Workday had originally intended to construct its own 550,000sqft European headquarters on a site in Grangegorman in the capital. However, it abandoned that plan earlier this year, opting instead to move its staff to the development on Tara Street. Workday will move its 2,000 staff, currently at two separate locations in Dublin, to the new location. Mr Crean, who is Marlet's chief executive, described the lease agreement as a 'significant milestone' for Dublin's office market. Construction of College Square, which also features 54 apartments, is expected to be completed next month, with Workday commencing its fit-out programme soon after. Real estate firm Savills said in March that Dublin's office market is poised for 'significant recovery' this year, driven by rapidly falling vacancy rates, major corporate commitments and strong demand for prime office spaces. It said that the office vacancy rate in the Dublin 2 area is expected to fall sharply by the end of 2025, due to strong occupier interest and substantial pre-let activity. Savills said that prime office rents in Dublin's central business district have already begun to recover, having risen 4pc year-on-year to €65 per square foot in the final quarter of 2024. That's the highest figure on record.
