Suffolk Street investment at €7.15m offers potential yield of 8%

Nos 24 and 25 come for sale with strong line-up of retail and office tenants in place

Agent JLL is guiding a price of €7.15 million for Nos 24 and 25 Suffolk Street in Dublin city centre. The investment, which occupies a prime location just off the bottom of Grafton Street, comprises two four-storey over-basement buildings set out for retail and restaurant use at street level with offices overhead. Combined, the two buildings extend to approximately 17,784 sq ft (1,652 sq m). The investment comes to the market with a strong tenant line-up in place and is generating significant rental income.

Twenty-four Suffolk Street comprises a mid-terraced period building constructed in 1919, extending to 6,793 sq ft (631 sq m). The ground-floor retail unit is occupied by the popular UK & Ireland Italian restaurant chain, Zizzi, which accounts for 74 per cent of the building’s rental income. Zizzi signed a 25-year lease, running to January 2042 and currently have a passing rent of €200,000 annually following a strong rent review. Landscape architects, Cunnane Stratton Reynolds, have recently signed a 20-year lease from the 8th of August 2023 for the first, second and third-floor office accommodation, at a rent of €70,000 annually.

Twenty-five Suffolk Street is an end-of-terrace building, comprising a mix of period and contemporary designs extending to 10,991 sq ft (1,021 sq m). Fáilte Ireland, which leases the ground floor, has vacated the unit and will be exiting upon the expiry of their lease in November 2023.

The Bodywise Clinic occupy the second floor on a 10-year term. While the clinic had the option to break its lease last year, it did not exercise it, underpinning its commitment to the space. Likewise, the third-floor tenants, FFA Chartered Accountants, have been in occupation on a 35-year lease since 1989.

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24 & 25 Suffolk Street occupy a strong trading position just off the bottom of Grafton Street, the city’s principal shopping district with an estimated footfall of some 25 million people annually. The surrounding area is home to an abundance of amenities, including various food-and-beverage offerings, along with a number of high-profile retailers including Brown Thomas, Marks & Spencer, and Avoca. The area is well served by public transport including the Luas Green Line at St Stephen’s Green and Dawson Street, Pearse Street Dart station and a number of Dublin Bus routes.

The two properties are being offered for sale at a combined guide price of €7.15 million, offering investors the opportunity to secure a reversionary yield in the region of 8.0 per cent, following the execution of short-term asset management initiatives. The strength of the current tenant profile meanwhile will provide a purchaser with immediate and reliable rental income.

Commenting on the sale, Sandra Walsh and Max Reilly of JLL said: “This provides an opportunity to attract a high-street retailer to occupy a prime retail unit within one of Ireland’s premier shopping streets, with the ability to obtain a strong rent. The first-floor office space is open plan, while the second and third floors comprise cellularised offices.”

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan is Property Editor of The Irish Times