| 8°C Dublin

Real estate group BlackRock set to open Dublin hostel in EU expansion

 

Close

Thomas Mueller said there was an argument it had missed the boat here

Thomas Mueller said there was an argument it had missed the boat here

Thomas Mueller said there was an argument it had missed the boat here

Blackrock, one of the world's largest asset managers, is set to open a hostel in Dublin as part of its push to develop a pan-European hospitality portfolio.

The US-headquartered company owns a number of properties in Dublin, including a student accommodation building in the Dublin docklands and the former Hewlett Packard Manufacturing plant, which has been rebranded as the Liffey Business Capital Campus.

BlackRock acquired a hostel portfolio as part of a €100m joint venture with specialist operator Amistat International in June. The deal included three hostels with off-market deals agreed for a further six.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, BlackRock managing director Thomas Mueller said the Irish capital will be included in its expansion plans.

"We would like to have a presence all across Europe," he said. "We're starting in Spain and then we're going to expand elsewhere. It will include Dublin, it will include Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and places like London and Paris."

Mueller said it was difficult to put a specific number on the volume of beds the group would like to add but said that each hostel needed around 300 beds to "run efficiently". He also said that the group would add up to 15 hostels - which would bring its portfolio to around 4,500 beds.

"The whole millennial cohort is spending a lot of its net wealth on travelling rather than buying objects," he said.

"What we're looking to provide is a safe, clean, fun, community-based solution that is affordable. If you look at the market it's very fragmented with lots of independent mom and pop shops but there's only really two institutional providers and they're both at the high end."

When asked whether there was value left for BlackRock in the Irish housing market, Mueller said that there was an argument the company had "missed the boat".

"I think over the last few years we looked at quite a few projects here in Dublin. We looked at the numbers but we couldn't quite get the returns we were looking for," he said.

Business Newsletter

Read the leading stories from the world of business.

This field is required

"But clearly had we done this back in 2016 I think it would have been a very good strategy. I think for now it's probably a bit of a wait and see on the market here."

Mueller was speaking after the launch of Irish investment group Key Capital's second private equity real estate fund. The fund provides qualifying investors access to top real estate managers like BlackRock, Blackstone, and the Starwood Capital Group.

"It is an attractive way to access real estate, with managers pursuing a flexible approach that combines current rental yield and capital appreciation across multiple sectors and geographies," said Martin Lally, managing director of Key Capital.

Please register or log in with Independent.ie for free access to this article

Already have an account?


Most Watched





Privacy