Ninety-eight apartments at Liam Carroll schemes for €15.1m

Receiver forces sale of city centre homes which are available at a knockdown price

A total of 98 apartments in four developments in Dublin city are to be offered for sale at a knockdown price. Agent Hooke & MacDonald is expecting a combined price of €15.1 million for the homes at Watling Street, Cork Street, Dolphin’s Barn and Middle Gardiner Street which are to be sold on the instructions of receiver Peter Stapleton of Lisney.

The four lots are thought to be the last remaining unsold apartments developed by Liam Carroll's Zoe Developments before the group folded in 2008 with debts of about €2.8 billion.

Other multi-family investments developed by Zoe and other companies and offered for sale in the Dublin area in recent months have been bought by both Irish and overseas investors as well as Iris Reit on the back of strong rental growth and high occupancy levels.

At €7 million, the highest- value lot size for sale breaks back to about €149,000 for each apartment in the Maltings on Watling Street, off Thomas Street. All 47 apartments for sale here are located in a stand-alone, L-shaped block known as the New Maltings, which is about 450m from St James’s Hospital.

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The apartments are all occupied, with the exception of the show unit, and are producing a gross annual rental income of €539,700, averaging €856 a month for the 18 one-bedroom units, €991 for the 27 two-bedroom apartments and €1,083 for each of the two three-bedroom homes.

The apartments come with a basement car park. The selling agents say that if the apartments were let in the current market, the rent roll should be in the region of €640,800 with the prospect of a gross yield of 9.15 per cent.

Hooke & McDonald is seeking €2.5 million for 20 of the 41 apartments in the Ice Rink in Dolphin’s Barn, Dublin 8, a joint venture between Carroll and RJ Manufacturing. The asking price works out at €125,000 per apartment.

Separately, Lisney is looking for a buyer for the remaining 21 apartments in the Ice Rink, which are valued at €125,000 each. The Carroll investment is producing a gross rent of €228,600, equating to €842 for the one-bedroom apartments, €1,041 for two- bedroom units and €1,500 for three-bedrooms.

The homes for sale include 12 two-bedroom, 60-74sq m units, seven one-bedroom flats extending from 44 to 56sq m and one three-bedroom apartment with 94 sq m. Each apartment has a designated car parking space at basement level.

The selling agents are advising investors that there is potential to increase the rent roll to €297,600, opening up the prospect of a gross yield of 11.9 per cent.

A price of about €2.9 million is being sought for 16 of the 18 apartments in a Zoe development at 46-47 Cork Street in Dublin 8. The five-storey building with a retail unit at street level and a basement car park has a rent roll of €182,700 – well short of the projected rental value of €252,000 quoted by the selling agents.

The asking price equates to about €170,000 per apartment. The units are located in two blocks, one overlooking Cork Street, the other a mews to the rear. One-beds are renting at €925 a month, while the two-beds are making €1,000.

The sell-off also includes 15 apartments above two retail units at 31-35 Middle Gardiner Street, close to Mountjoy Square. The 10 one-bedroom apartments and five-two bedroom units are bringing in €153,000 a year, reflecting rents of €1,020 for the larger units and €850 for the one- beds. Hooke & McDonald suggests the rent roll could be increased to €228,000.

The retail units are not to be included in the sale.

The €2.7 million asking price reflects a valuation of €180,000 per apartment.

Jack Fagan

Jack Fagan

Jack Fagan is the former commercial-property editor of The Irish Times