€3.25m for shop and office investment

With the demand for Dublin city centre retail properties at its highest for many years, agents Savills are expecting an early sale of a mixed-use building at 25 Suffolk Street, off Grafton Street, which will show a return of 6 per cent.

Gareth Shiells of the selling agents is guiding €3.25 million for the four-storey over-basement building which is producing a rent roll of €201,365, most of it coming from Fáilte Ireland who were previously based in the adjoining St Andrews Church.

The tourist office has completed a new fit-out of the ground floor and basement where it has taken a 10-year lease at a rent of €132,000 per annum. The new tenants will have the use of no less than 260sq m (2,799sq ft) at street level. The upper floors, which bring the overall floor area of up to 859sq m (9,246sq ft), are let to Malvern House, a language school, Bodywise Clinic and FAA Accountants. Malvern are paying a rent of €46,665 under a new 10-year lease.

Shiells says that with most of the rental income coming from Fáilte Ireland and the average unexpired lease term running at 7.2 years, the investment was certain to attract considerable interest.

The building is in a particularly busy stretch opposite Superdry and Avoca. Towards the end of 2013, Savills sold the Avoca premises for €7.2 million, reflecting a yield of 5.72 per cent.