Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate Plc (‘KWE’), the European arm of the international real estate investment company with significant commercial and residential assets in Ireland, has today announced the sale of four of their prime Dublin city centre investments.

With a combined guide price in excess of €14.5m, Kennedy Wilson has instructed international real estate advisors Savills to bring four high-profile Dublin city centre retail investment assets to the market:

• 35, Henry Street, Dublin 1 (3 store)
• 16 Westmorland Street, Dublin 2 (KFC)
• 3 College Green, Dublin 2 (Costa Coffee)
• 18 Fleet Street, Dublin 2 (Paddy Power)

35 Henry Street, Dublin 1 (3 store)

At €8.25m, which reflects a net initial yield of 4.93%, the highest value asset of the four Kennedy Wilson sales is the 3 store on Henry Street. The property comprises a mid-terraced four storey building extending to approx. 276.7 sq.m (2,979 sq.ft). The property benefits from significant frontage onto Henry Street and is positioned on the busy O’Connell Street side – Dublin’s main thoroughfare.

The property is fully let to Three Ireland (Hutchison) Limited t/a ‘3’ and is the flagship store for the leading telecommunications provider in Ireland. The current rent roll stands at €425,000 per annum and an incoming investor will benefit from a long unexpired term of more than 15 years with the protection of upwards only rent reviews.

The immediate area is a leading tourist attraction which has helped drive footfall figures on the street. In 2015, this totalled more than 17.36 million. The street is home to numerous international recognised brands such as Zara, H&M, River Island, Boots, Debenhams and Arnotts. Adjoining occupiers include Vodafone, Lush, Meteor, Pandora, Swarovski, Eir and Starbucks Coffee.

16 Westmoreland Street, Dublin 2 (KFC)

16 Westmoreland Street represents an excellent opportunity to acquire a retail investment property in a strong city centre trading location. The property comprises a retail unit with fast-food take-away use (KFC) and has excellent profile on Westmoreland Street.

The entire unit (basement, ground and first floor space) is let to Herbel Restaurants (Ireland) Ltd on a 20 year lease from 16th October 2013 with a break option in year 10. There are 5 yearly market rent reviews. The headline rent outlined in the lease is €200,000 per annum, which is stepped for the first four years. The current passing rent is €180,000 per annum with the uplift to headline rent due on the 16th October 2017. The vendor will provide a rental top-up to the headline rent.

The property benefits from a high profile trading position on Westmoreland Street. It is the main thoroughfare for pedestrians crossing between O’Connell Street and Grafton Street and footfall is set to improve further with the opening of the Luas Cross City (light rail) stop opposite the property in 2017.

This investment is being offered to the market at a guide price in excess of €3.5m.

3 College Green, Dublin 2 (Costa Coffee)

3 College Green comprises a high profile city centre ground floor and basement café (Costa Coffee). The ground floor comprises a seating area, serving counter and rear storage and staff area. The basement has an attractive vaulted ceiling, with further seating, customer toilets and storage.

The unit it let in its entirety to MBCC Foods (Ireland) Limited trading as Costa Coffee on a 20 year lease from 22nd September 2010 with a tenant break option in 2020.

Located on College Green, the unit is located opposite Trinity College and close to Temple Bar and Grafton Street. The surrounding area bustles with activity, as a result of a high concentration of offices, third level colleges, hotels, restaurants, bars and tourist attractions. The property benefits from all of the transport links the city centre has to offer. It is also close to the proposed Luas Cross City stop at Trinity College.

This investment is being offered to the market at a guide price in excess of €1.9m.

18 Fleet Street, Dublin 2 (Paddy Power)

At a guide price in excess of €850,000, 18 Fleet Street represents the smallest of these four retail investment opportunities but is expected to attract substantial interest from private investors. The investment benefits from an unexpired lease term of approximately 9.2 years and is currently producing a rent of €46,600 per annum offering a very attractive income yield of 5.25% after standard purchasers’ costs.

The property which comprises a ground floor corner retail unit in addition to its associated basement extends to approximately 73.6 sq m (792 sq ft) and is located in a prominent position on the northern side of Fleet Street along the main Temple Bar thoroughfare – which benefits from high footfall levels.

Dessie Kilkenny of Savills commented:

“Given the high profile city centre locations of these retail assets, we expect demand, particularly from private and non-property related investors, to be exceptionally high. These assets represent a low-risk investment due to their proximity to Ireland’s largest retail thoroughfares at a time when the retail economy in the country is performing strongly.”