Kildare business park on sale for €14m

Tougher Business Park, a sprawling business complex on the outskirts of Naas, Co Kildare, is to be offered for sale for about €14 million by two firms of receivers acting for Nama and Bank of Scotland Ireland.

DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and Savills are handling the sale of about 56 buildings dating from the 1990s and early 2000s with an overall floor area of 70,000sq m (753,446sq ft).

About €1.12 million of the total rent of €1.8 million comes from global transport and logistics company DSV which occupies almost 34,374sq m (370,000sq ft) of industrial buildings. DSV's commitment to the park was underlined by its recent decision to rent a further 18,115sq m (195,000sq ft) to facilitate its business.

High-profile traders

Other high-profile traders in the park include

Lidl

, Domino’s Pizza, NCT Centre and the HSE. Part of the park not included in the sale includes the 23,225sq m (250,000sq ft) Primark warehouse and buildings occupied by Nationwide Tiles and a

BMW

showrooms operated by Conlan Motors.There is an on-site café and restaurant for the many staff on the park.

There is scope for new owners to push the overall rent roll to well over €2 million by stepping up asset-management procedures, re-gearing some leases and finding tenants for vacant buildings.

With 16,304sq m (175,492sq ft) of industrial and office space vacant and many buildings let at just €32 a sq metre (€3 a sq foot) – 50 per cent less than the going rate in the Dublin area – there are obvious opportunities to attract further logistics companies looking for cost-effective space within easy reach of the main arterial routes.

With 27 acres of industrially zoned development land available, 26 acres of forestry and 24 acres of unzoned land, the next owners will have the option of selling individual plots of between one and 10 acres to companies prepared to design and build their own facilities.

The zoned land alone is capable of accommodating about 46,450sq m (500,000sq ft) of industrial buildings.

While a number of building were sold some years ago, this sale will include all roads and services within the park.

Brendan Smyth of DTZ said that when setting the guide price, they took into account the investment needed to improve the road network. He said the guide price valued the various units at about 20 per cent of their build cost and that at the €14 million guide price, new owners could bank on a net initial yield of 14.2 per cent.

Separate buyer

Depending on the reaction to the sale, the vendors might decide to seek a separate buyer for “Smith’s Farmhouse and Land” adjoining the park because of the level of interest in it from the local farming community.

The holding includes a five- bedroom farmhouse and associated farm buildings as well as 48 acres with good road frontage.

Gavin Butler of Savills said the Naas area had been chosen by Lidl, Aldi, DSV and Penneys as the preferred location for their national distribution centres. The sale of the Tougher park offered excellent potential to maximise returns through future sales and lettings of individual properties and the development of the commercially zoned land.