French investor buys pair of Blackrock offices for €13m

The price reflects a discount to the €17m which selling agent Savills quoted for it when they first brought the property to the market in 2017. Kennedy Wilson bought the offices in March 2016 for €14.4m from Hudson Advisors, which acted for US private equity firm Lone Star.

Known as Samson House and The Arch, and also known as Blocks 3, 4 and 5, their net internal overall floor area extends to 3,700 sqm.

Occupied by seven tenants, the properties generate combined gross passing rents of €1,192,119 per annum from Hair Restoration, Medfit, Visor, Fincad and Kobo Software, Endeavour and IPSOS MRBI. The vendor also offered a guarantee on rent on the vacant floor in Block 4.

The average rent for The Arch is about €27.85 per sqft net internal area (NIA) and the most recent letting there was €28.60 per sqft on an NIA basis in May 2022.

A note on Remake’s website suggests that “the rate of return” was close to 8.21pc. It indicated a cost price of €14.52m which may also include transaction costs. Located at Sweetman’s Avenue, the business park also came with 96 parking spaces.

Knight Frank acted for Remake.

The business park is within walking distance of the Dart and bus routes. Blackrock village is benefitting from substantial revamps of its two local shopping centres.

This is the French firm’s second purchase in Ireland. Last December it acquired 14-16 Lord Edward Street, a five-storey period office building located between Dame Street and Christ Church Cathedral for €9m. Fully let to four tenants, mainly public entities, it was producing €589,500 in annual rental income.

Entirely restructured in 2007, the office building has a total area of 1,315 sqm.

That asset is fully leased to 65pc of surface area for an annual rent of €594,000, excluding tax. Remake says that deal equated at a 6.1 pc rate of return.

Meanwhile, Kennedy Wilson has also been investing in the industrial sector in the first quarter of this year as it paid €14.8m for three industrial units.