Financial Services

Insurer Friends First buys Eyre Square building for €22m

Mixed-use, 76,500sq ft Citypoint building in Galway city makes €1.5m per year in rent

Citypoint at the northern edge of Eyre Square, Galway city

Tue Aug 21 2018 - 01:35

Insurance company Friends First has bought the Citypoint building for an estimated price of €22 million in Eyre Square, Galway, in a deal brokered by BNP Paribas Real Estate and QRE Real Estate Advisers.

The mixed-use, 76,500sq ft building is at the northern edge of Eyre Square and was completed in 2008. It is fully let and comprises retail, office and residential tenants producing an annual rental income of about €1.5 million for the company. This results in a net yield of 6.3 per cent.

Its ground floor retail space is let to retailer TK Maxx, while Galway Health and Fitness is located at basement level. The three office tenants include Mathworks, while the residential units are let to a hotel operator.

“Citypoint represents the first acquisition which the fund has made in the Galway market and is representative of the balanced approach we are taking to asset purchases,” said Claire Solon, head of property at Friends First.

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“Although predominantly Dublin-based as a fund, we recognise that there are select opportunities within the regional cities. This property has a solid income profile with upcoming asset management opportunities which we can leverage to create additional value for our policy holders.”

Friends First is also working on a planned refurbishment project at Royal Hibernian Way on Dawson Street in Dublin, marketing a restaurant unit to let at this location.

The asset was the last remaining property within a wider portfolio known as the Axis Portfolio, which also included Boroimhe Shopping Centre in Swords, Co Dublin, which was sold for €9.25 million, and Cruises Street Car Park, Limerick, sold for €2.7 million.

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