Winding Stair portfolio at €8m offers scope for development

Developers and investors are expected to express an interest in the sale of three landmark Dublin properties. The Woollen Mills and the Yarn, the Legal Eagle and the Washerwoman are being offered to the market in one or more lots as part of the Winding Stair portfolio at a guide price of €8 million.

The Woollen Mills and the Yarn (Lot 1) occupy a prominent position on the corner of Ormond Quay and the soon-to-be pedestrianised Liffey Street, overlooking the Ha’penny Bridge and the river Liffey.

The subject property comprises a refurbished five-storey listed period building with a modern rooftop terrace at first-floor level and a retractable roof that separates the original building with the three-storey Yarn building at the north side of the site. The building extends to 525sq m (5,651sq ft) on a total site area of 0.04 hectares (395sq m) with street frontage of 27 metres on to Liffey Street.

The Woollen Mills building comprises a modern open-plan 70-seater restaurant on the ground floor, an open kitchen and a 20-seat covered external seating area overlooking Liffey Street. There is potential seating for an additional 66-76 customers in the private dining rooms on the upper floors and within the covered external first floor seating area.

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A feasibility study conducted by Hughes Planning Consultants and Odos Architects suggests the portion of the property occupied by the Yarn offers potential for the development of 11 apartments or an office development of about 743sq m (8,000sq ft) over eight floors.

In addition, the Winding Stair Group will offer to pay the purchaser an annual rent of €200,000 while entering into a 25-year full repairing-and-insuring (FRI) lease on the front section of the building to exclude 45sq m on the ground floor and 60sq m on the first floor. Selling agent Robert Colleran Property Consultants have ascribed an estimated rental value (ERV) of €500,000-€600,000 per annum for the new development.

The Woollen Mills and the Yarn are available for sale separately at a guide price of €4.5 million.

Washerwoman site

The Washerwoman site (Lot 2) is on the south side of Glasnevin Hill, opposite Met Éireann's headquarters and adjoining the Convent of the Holy Faith lands and the Glasnevin Motor Group garage. The selling agent understands there is an active planning permission by developer Noel Smyth on the garage site for a six-storey apartment block comprising 74 units.

The subject site comprises 0.056 hectares (560sq m) and is zoned as Z3 – Neighbourhood Centre in the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022. The site comprises three self-contained commercial buildings with 29m of road frontage. The Washerwoman building is to the south of the property and comprises a two-storey period building, which has been refurbished and extended to provide a kitchen and back-of-house area and toilets at the rear of the property. The restaurant extends to 155.7sq m and can seat 90 customers over two floors. The Winding Stair Group is prepared to take on a new two-year FRI lease in a new ground floor restaurant.

The sale of the property also includes a single-storey building at the rear of the property that is trading as Bizzy B’s creche (135.7sq m) and two long-leasehold properties, number 66 that is trading as Italya pizzeria (46.6sq m) with a two-bedroom apartment overhead. Hughes Planning & Development Consultants and Odos architects have held pre-planning meetings with Fingal County Council and have established that a mixed-use development with four floors of apartments (14 apartments) overhead is feasible, subject to planning permission. Robert Colleran is seeking offers in excess of €2.4 million for this property.

The third lot is the well-known Legal Eagle pub premises. Recently refurbished, the property is directly opposite the Four Courts and within close proximity to the headquarters of Dublin City Council at Wood Quay, and Christ Church cathedral.

The property extends to 338.2sq m (3,640sq ft) and comprises a large ground-floor restaurant and bar with seating for 100 customers, a first-floor dining area with seating for 40 customers, second-floor offices for the Winding Stair Group and a cellar with cold rooms, wine store and kitchen in the basement.

The Winding Stair Group has agreed to take on a 25-year full FRI lease at an annual rent of €100,000. The Legal Eagle is being offered for sale at a guide price in excess of €1.6 million.