Grand Offices on St. Stephen’s Green – 22 April 2016

Standard Life’s Dublin office for 30 years with a Georgian entrance on to the south side of St Stephen’s Green and more modern offices backing on to Iveagh Gardens are to be offered for sale as a single investment from today.

Michele Jackson of agents TWM is guiding €25 million for the mixed offices which will show a yield of 5 per cent once an imminent rent increase kicks in.

The offices are fully let to Standard Life Employee Services on a conventional lease until September 2021, with a full guarantee from Standard Life plc. The passing rent of €650,000 per annum is highly reversionary at €238 per sq m (€22.11 per sq ft) and is due to be reviewed in September .

Ms Jackson says with prime office rents on St Stephen’s Green now exceeding €60 per sq ft, the next owners would be able to achieve a “significant imminent uplift” as well as possibly negotiating a regearing of the lease. The office accommodation extends to 2,470sq m (26,591sq ft) over five floors and comes with 25 parking spaces.

TWM is unlikely to have any difficulty offloading the St Stephen’s Green investment given the favourable location, lot size, the strength of the covenant and the shortage of investment properties in the €20-€30 million price bracket.

Ms Jackson expects the investment to appeal to both institution and private investors, and says it should also be of particular interest to family trusts given the quality of the asset and its potential to protect wealth for future generations.

If TWM achieves the €25 million guide price the investment will have a capital value of €940 per sq ft.