Castle Market likely to sell for around €30m

There should be no shortage of takers for 10 retail buildings in a Victorian shopping enclave between Grafton and South Great George's streets, writes Jack Fagan

Want to have your own street near Dublin's Grafton Street? The unusual opportunity to buy Dublin's best known Victorian shopping enclave will arise on May 15th when 10 retail buildings are offered for sale on Castle Market, the pedestrianised street which links South William Street with Drury Street.

Ben Pearson of Bogle Estates is suggesting a selling price heading for €30 million but, given the undoubted potential of the street and the pent up demand for retail investments in the city centre, it will be no surprise if it makes more than the guide price. Peter Brown of Davin Auctioneers is the joint selling agent.

Castle Market and the area around it - running from Grafton Street to South Great George's Street - has become a popular shopping and leisure precinct in recent years with the opening of a range of new fashion outlets, restaurants, bars and clubs. Coinciding with the changing character of area, three separate groups have been actively assembling property portfolios in the expectation that Dublin City Council will push ahead with its plans to extend high street shopping from Grafton Street to South Great George's Street.

The 10 retail buildings going for sale by tender are to be sold in one or more lots. They are mainly located on Castle Market where the only building not for sale is Grogans pub on the corner of South William Street.

The 10 shops are producing a rent roll of over €700,000 but, with five rent reviews due this year, the estimated rental value is calculated at over €1 million. Successful purchasers can expect to get an equivalent yield of about 3.25 per cent, according to Pearson.

This would put a valuation of at least €4.85 million on the two-storey over basement unit rented by Helen McAlinden Interiors at €160,000 per annum. At the opposite end of Castle Market, a valuation of over €4 million is anticipated for Cooks Restaurant where the current rent under three separate leases stands at €116,855. The selling agents say that, on review, the rent should almost double to €205,252.

Of the smaller units, a price of at least €1.8 million is being suggested for the chic patisserie, Maison de Gourmet, currently rented at €47,000 but with an estimated rental value of €65,000.

The agents also expect that Constume's rent will rise from €60,500 to €106,359 next October and that Rohu Furs will see its rent go from €71,000 to €138,480 in June of next year.

Castle Market has been owned for the past four years by Francis Rhatigan and Chris Jones of Ellier Developments who have a large house building programme in the Dublin area and are also developing a substantial office block in the south Dublin docklands. They have carried out a number of major improvements to Castle Market since buying it from Green Property Co for over €13 million. The 2003 sale attracted the highest recorded level of interest in any city property. The selling agents reported that, after getting 350 inquiries, they stopped counting.