'Distressed' auction to include €9 million of commercial property

There will be a heavy emphasis on commercial properties at the next Allsop Space auction in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel on December 4th.

With 55 commercial properties under the hammer out of a total of 103 lots, the promoters can justly claim it as the largest number of commercial properties to be auctioned in Ireland on a single day.

Commercial property in the auction has a combined reserve price of €9 million compared to €4.6 million for residential sales. The commercial auctions will include 26 retail units, seven offices, three pubs, six industrial properties and 13 land sales. Many of them are being sold on the instructions of receivers.

Robert Hoban, director of auctions at Allsop Space, said uncertainties about rents and tenants in the commercial market made it difficult to get sales over the line but, with the auction method, there was transparency and certainty for sellers and buyers and a signed contract at the end of the day.

Two of the shops for auction are in the Market Cross centre in Kilkenny city. A reserve of not more than €250,000 has been set for a 55.7sq m (600sq ft) shop occupied by School Supplies at a concession rent of €45,640 rather than the full rent of €65,200. The lease runs to 2021.

The second shop going to auction in the centre does not have a permanent tenant but is let to a pop-up Calendar Club shop from the end of October until January 6th at a fee of €10,000 plus VAT. The reserve on the 75.16sq m (809sq ft) unit will not exceed €160,000.

One of the highlights of the auction will be the sale of 18 retail units in the Market Place complex in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, when the reserve is not due to exceed €900,000. Nine of the shops are let at an overall rent roll of €231,645.

A reserve of no higher than €550,000 has been set for a Centra store on Dublin’s Capel Street which originally had a rent of €116,000 but has been reduced to €75,000 until the end of 2013. The shop has 190sq m (2,045sq ft) and there is a further 96.16sq m (1,035sq ft) of storage space.

Another well located property going for sale, Olympia House at 63 and 63A Dame Street, Dublin 2, has a reserve price of no more than €380,000. It is producing an overall rent of €83,088 from 12 tenancies including auctioneers Hassett Fitzsimons on the ground floor and food outlet Stir Crazy next door. Virtually all the tenants in the 678sq m (7,296sq ft) five-storey over basement buildings are on short leases.

In Dalkey there should be any number of buyers for the Nosh restaurant on Coliemore Road which is let at €25,000 per annum and will have a reserve price of no more than €275,000. The lease on the 84sq m (911sq ft) premises does not run out till 2025.

There is also likely to be keen interest in three adjoining retail premises at Main Street, Tallaght, Dublin 24, where the reserve is not due to exceed €595,000. Choices Chinese restaurant is paying €62,000 of the total rent roll of €99,900 while the balance comes from an insurance agents, a barber’s shop and three tenants on the first floor.

An extensive property portfolio going for sale in Drogheda with a reserve of no more than €300,000 is symptomatic of some of the worst features of the property boom.

Seven retail units, two offices and a crèche developed in Aston Village – part of the extensive Termon Abbey housing estate – on the outskirts of Drogheda, Co Louth, are all vacant but a tenant was found for another shop at a rent of €14,580 per annum. The portfolio also includes a site with planning permission for a bar and offices.