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North Docklands - last piece of the jigsaw
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24-02-2016 9:58am#1One of the largest stretches of development land likely to come on the market in Dublin this year, a six-acre waterfront site at Spencer Dock in the north Dublin docklands, is expected to be of interest to Irish and overseas investors when it comes on the market today.
Joint selling agents JLL and BNP Paribas Real Estate are guiding €50 million for the land, which is likely to be used for a mixed development between PwC’s headquarters and the planned new Central Bank headquarters.
The land forms part of a larger site originally owned by CIÉ at Spencer Dock which was due to be developed by Treasury Holdings before the market collapsed and the company was wound up. Receivers Luke Charleton and David Hughes of EY have now been appointed by Nama to handle the sale.
The site has planning permission for a 169-bedroom hotel, more than 31,580sq m (340,000sq ft) of offices and 165 apartments, with further scope for additional facilities.
CIE is also set to benefit from the sale, having retained a freehold interest in ground leases at the former railway yard which extends to more than 50 acres. The State transport company is understood to be entitled to either 17.5 per cent of the sale price or a similar stake in ground leases where buildings are completed and let. Treasury had developed only 20 of the 50 acres it had a lean on in Spencer Dock by the time the market crashed.
Located within the Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), and zoned for a mixed-use development, the site will almost certainly be used for a new urban quarter adjacent to the Spencer Dock development. The land is divided in two by the red Luas line on Mayor Street Upper. The southern portion, overlooking the River Liffey, is earmarked for the commercial element. The 169-bed hotel will be located within the former London and North Western Hotel dating back to the 1800s, with an interlinking eight-storey modern extension.
In addition to the hotel, there will be two high-quality office buildings. The front block will provide almost 16,722sq m (180,000sq ft) of offices over nine floors including a penthouse with views over docklands. The second office block to be located at the rear of the hotel will have 14,864sq m (160,000sq ft) over seven floors with community and retail facilities at street level.
The northern section has planning for a six-storey multifamily development providing 165 high-quality apartments with landscaped communal areas. A breakdown shows 23 of the apartments will be one-bedroom units; there will be 117 two-bedroom homes and 25 three-bedroom units. The scheme will include parking for 90 cars and 186 bicycles. The agents say there will also be scope for additional development on the portion of the site fronting on to Mayor Street.
Luke Charleton, joint receiver with David Hughes of EY, says the site has the potential to house two large headquarters for businesses looking to locate in this area. “We expect a great deal of interest both from local and international investors.”
Des Lennon says the timing of the sale is favourable given the current shortage of new office space and apartments in Dublin. The developers who secured the site could capitalise on the strong demand from the occupier markets. Further endorsement comes from Mark Forrest of BNP, who says the scale, location and zoning of the site is an opportunity not to be missed for the redevelopment of a large mixed-use site in the docklands.0
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This location is the area where the entrance to the Docklands DART Underground station was meant to go.
Does that factor in at all? The railway order was allowed to lapse by the current government last year, so I guess any protection on the site is gone now.
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A condition of the Planning Permission is that a section of land is to be retained in the event of a future decision to build the DART Underground0
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This location is the area where the entrance to the Docklands DART Underground station was meant to go.
Does that factor in at all? The railway order was allowed to lapse by the current government last year, so I guess any protection on the site is gone now.
This sale is regarding the adjacent lands, the block between Wapping St and New Wapping St. Not the land above DU itself.
All the main parties nominally support building DU "at some stage", so you'd assume the route corridor is protected. But as we've no form in delivering underground railways in this country its worth keeping an eye on.0 -
More good news for the North Docklands
Johnny Ronan and Colony Capital top bidders for docklands site
Offer of €43m for six-acre waterfront site at Spencer Dock was just ahead of next bi
The docklands site was previously owned by Ronan’s Treasury Holdings before the company collapsed. It has planning permission for a hotel, offices and apartments
The docklands site was previously owned by Ronan’s Treasury Holdings before the company collapsed. It has planning permission for a hotel, offices and apartments
Property developer Johnny Ronan and Colony Capital have emerged as the top bidders for a six-acre waterfront site at Spencer Dock in the north Dublin docklands.
Their offer of €43 million was marginally ahead of a bid from New Generation, a new homes development company run by Greg Kavanagh.
Ronan and Colony Capital previously joined forces to purchase a substantial office site at Burlington Road.
The docklands site was previously owned by Ronan’s Treasury Holdings before the company collapsed. It has planning permission for a 169-bedroom hotel, more than 31,580sq m (340,000 sq ft) of offices and 165 apartments, with scope for additional facilities.
CIÉ is also set to benefit from the sale, having retained a freehold interest in ground leases at the former railway yard, which extends to more than 50 acres.
Treasury had developed only 20 of the 50 acres it had a lien on in Spencer Dock when the market crashed.
The six-acre site is divided in two by the Luas Red line on Mayor Street Upper. The southern portion, overlooking the Liffey, is earmarked for the commercial element.0 -
Another interesting development from a recent article in the Sunday Business Post
Tiny sliver of Dublin docklands sells for over €100 million per acre
86-88 North Wall Quay Pic: DublinDocklands.ie86-88 North Wall Quay
Former Hales Freight site bought for a price of some €26 million
A small strip of Dublin docklands land has been sold for an historically high price of more than €100 million per acre, according to sources in the property sector.
The quarter-acre former Hales Freight site at 86-88 North Wall Quay in Dublin has been acquired for a price of some €26 million, the sources said.0 -
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Great to see such pillars of society like Johnny back in business all the same
the more things change...0 -
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Interested Observer wrote: »If it results in the building of something decent on the land I seriously don't care if it's him or anyone else.
More property way too expensive for normal working people. Not much use to most of us.0 -
Interested Observer wrote: »If it results in the building of something decent on the land I seriously don't care if it's him or anyone else.
We've already seen the results of Johnny boys developments, massive holes in the ground0 -
Dr Crayfish wrote: »More property way too expensive for normal working people. Not much use to most of us.
All residential development is good for tackling the cost of housing. Building high end apartments means those with the cash can move out of their average apartment and that frees up their old apartment for someone else, it's a ripple effect.
Similarly if we were to build fit-for-purpose student accommodation, that frees up a lot of studios and house shares for other people. It's all related.
In any recovering economy it's going to be the high end apartments that get built first because they'll sell for a price that justify the cost of building them. Remember the cost of a new apartments is 40% taxes and easily another 15% on unnecessary design features, e.g. underground parking spaces for largely carless households, a boiler in every unit when communal heating would be much cheaper and greener and so on. These costs mean it's impossible to get a half decent place for under €150k in Dublin, and indeed it's not worth anyone's while building them.0 -
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From todays Irish Times;
Dublin docklands site for student accommodation fetches €20m
Site beside Point Village has planning permission for 935 bed spaces in two blocks.
A new development company formed by UK and Irish investors is to proceed with the construction of a substantial residential complex for students beside the Point Village in the north Dublin docklands.
The consortium has outbid about half a dozen competitors, paying more than €20 million – more than €2 million above the guide price – for the well-located site of 2.38 acres (0.96 of a hectare) with planning permission for 935 student bed spaces.
It is located next to a Luas station and was sold by Declan McDonald of receiver PwC on behalf of Wintertide Ltd and two adjoining land owners, the National Asset Management Authority and CIÉ.
The sale comes at a time when about a dozen similar residential schemes are either under way or in the pipeline. The off-campus projects under construction include developments in Gardiner Street, Dorset Street and Blackpits which alone will provide about 1,300 bed spaces. The largest single scheme of about 2,000 spaces will be at Grangegorman to cater for students attending the newly relocated DIT.
High-spec scheme
The high-spec scheme planned for Point Village, designed by TP Bennett Architects, who specialise in student accommodation, will include two seven-storey blocks with a mix of student clusters containing between three and eight bed spaces as well as twin and single study units.
One of the two blocks will accommodate 589 bed spaces, while the other building will have 346 bed spaces as well as 866sq m of retail floor space designed to attract interest from retailers and cafe and restaurant operators. There will also be a further 462m of floor space set aside for “enterprise and community use”.
Donal Kellegher of agents Cushman & Wakefield, who handled the sale of the site, says the planned student facility would benefit from a new street under construction between North wall Quay and Sheriff Street as well as the planned pedestrianised bridge linking North Wall Quay and the south docklands.
Dublin universities provide on-campus accommodation for only 6,000 of the 79,000 student population. The Higher Education Authority has forecast that third-level student numbers in Ireland are likely to increase from 168,000 in 2014 to 193,000 in 2018.
This influx of people living in the area should herald the opening up of bars , restaurants and shops in the surrounding area.0 -
That's excellent, nearly 1000 students who won't be living in houses or apartments.0
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Mulryan's Dublin docks foray is a vote of confidence in economy.
Developer Sean Mulryan is set to make a return to these shores on Thursday with the launch by the Ballymore Group and its joint venture partners, Singapore-based Oxley Holdings, of its €111m Dublin Landings commercial and residential development in the city's docklands.
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Mulryan, who has stated his determination to exit Nama by the end of this year with his companies' estimated €2.6bn debt to the agency repaid in full, will be joined for the occasion by his son John, who works as Ballymore's UK managing director, and Oxley's executive chairman and CEO, Ching Chiat Kwong.
Located next to the Central Bank's new headquarters, the Dublin Landings development is set to extend to over 1m sqft. The first phase of the project got under way earlier this year and will see the construction of two office blocks at 72-80 North Wall Quay.
All told, the development, which is being funded through a mix of Oxley's own financial resources and bank borrowings, will, upon completion, consist of approximately 678,000 sqft of office space and 270 apartments, each one of which will come with its own car parking and bicycle space.
Nama, and by extension the Irish taxpayer, is set to benefit from the development owing to the State agency's decision to retain the freehold interest in the land. As well as receiving a secure income stream once the 2.35 hectare site has been developed and let, Nama also stands to receive a percentage of the future proceeds arising from the sale of any of the Dublin Landings buildings.
Mulryan's determination to work with Oxley to create a significant new quarter in Dublin's docklands saw the recent appointment of the former artistic director of the Gate Theatre, Michael Colgan, as Dublin Landings culture and arts adviser. Colgan has worked with Ballymore in the past, providing Mulryan with advice on theatre and culture in Berlin when the Ballymore Group owned the Ku'Damm-Karree shopping centre on the famous Kurfurstendamm boulevard.
Ballymore's return to large-scale commercial development in Dublin will be viewed by industry observers as something of a bellwether for the strength of the ongoing economic recovery. Notwithstanding its commencement in recent years of a number of housing developments in Dublin and Kildare, the group has limited its involvement in the Irish market, choosing instead to focus on the numerous sites Mulryan shrewdly acquired in London's docklands in the early 1990s at a time when the area had been left to fall into decay.
The development and sale of those sites has allowed Ballymore to repay its Nama debt, and has seen the group receive numerous industry awards. The latest of these came in July, with Ballymore named Large Developer of the Year at Property Week magazine's RESI awards.
Sunday Independent0 -
Mulryan's Dublin docks foray is a vote of confidence in economy.
Developer Sean Mulryan is set to make a return to these shores on Thursday with the launch by the Ballymore Group and its joint venture partners, Singapore-based Oxley Holdings, of its €111m Dublin Landings commercial and residential development in the city's docklands.
SHARE
Mulryan, who has stated his determination to exit Nama by the end of this year with his companies' estimated €2.6bn debt to the agency repaid in full, will be joined for the occasion by his son John, who works as Ballymore's UK managing director, and Oxley's executive chairman and CEO, Ching Chiat Kwong.
Located next to the Central Bank's new headquarters, the Dublin Landings development is set to extend to over 1m sqft. The first phase of the project got under way earlier this year and will see the construction of two office blocks at 72-80 North Wall Quay.
All told, the development, which is being funded through a mix of Oxley's own financial resources and bank borrowings, will, upon completion, consist of approximately 678,000 sqft of office space and 270 apartments, each one of which will come with its own car parking and bicycle space.
Nama, and by extension the Irish taxpayer, is set to benefit from the development owing to the State agency's decision to retain the freehold interest in the land. As well as receiving a secure income stream once the 2.35 hectare site has been developed and let, Nama also stands to receive a percentage of the future proceeds arising from the sale of any of the Dublin Landings buildings.
Mulryan's determination to work with Oxley to create a significant new quarter in Dublin's docklands saw the recent appointment of the former artistic director of the Gate Theatre, Michael Colgan, as Dublin Landings culture and arts adviser. Colgan has worked with Ballymore in the past, providing Mulryan with advice on theatre and culture in Berlin when the Ballymore Group owned the Ku'Damm-Karree shopping centre on the famous Kurfurstendamm boulevard.
Ballymore's return to large-scale commercial development in Dublin will be viewed by industry observers as something of a bellwether for the strength of the ongoing economic recovery. Notwithstanding its commencement in recent years of a number of housing developments in Dublin and Kildare, the group has limited its involvement in the Irish market, choosing instead to focus on the numerous sites Mulryan shrewdly acquired in London's docklands in the early 1990s at a time when the area had been left to fall into decay.
The development and sale of those sites has allowed Ballymore to repay its Nama debt, and has seen the group receive numerous industry awards. The latest of these came in July, with Ballymore named Large Developer of the Year at Property Week magazine's RESI awards.
Sunday Independent
I see Johnny Ronan is getting the ball started on something down in the docks area aswell though could be southside. article on the indo site saying he did a deal on friday on a site and had guys in working on the site on friday evening. Seems that all the lads who ended up in NAMA are back on the pigsback0 -
I see Johnny Ronan is getting the ball started on something down in the docks area aswell though could be southside. article on the indo site saying he did a deal on friday on a site and had guys in working on the site on friday evening. Seems that all the lads who ended up in NAMA are back on the pigsback
Its in the North Docklands between Spencer Dock and Castleforbes Rd.0 -
did he/treasury not own that site before?0
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ballymoregroup.com/project/detail/dublin-landings
The above gives a good overview of the new OXLEY/BALLYMORE development0 -
Latest updates from todays Irish Times.
Twelve cranes were located north of the Liffey – a rise of two or 20 per cent on last month – while this number could be set to rise rapidly as clearance work is proceeding at a number of substantial sites in the north docklands.
The first of these, the former “Tedcastles” site on North Wall Quay close to the Point Depot, is to accommodate a seven to nine-storey over-basement office development of 38,137sq m (410,503sq ft) in two linked blocks. One of these blocks will be accessed from Point Square and a new north-south street to run from North Wall Quay to Sheriff Street Upper.
Another large site, this time between the new Central Bank building and PwC offices at Spencer Dock, is also being cleared as the wraps come off restoration works on the former British Rail hotel which will front a substantial mixed-use scheme designed by architects Henry J Lyons at Spencer Place.
The listed hotel, which was last in use as offices for Irish Rail, is to be connected to a new eight-storey building to create a 168-bedroom hotel spread over 8,243sq m (88,727sq ft). Also included in this development is a nine-storey office block of 21,255sq m (228,787sq ft) and a seven-storey 15,925sq m (171,415sq ft) building with office, retail and community uses.
Next door to the former British Rail hotel is the North Wall Quay railway station which is included in plans for Dart Underground. The first of two new pedestrian areas planned to cross the Liffey is to be built in front of the station.
Both the British Railway Hotel and the North Wall railway station were significant departure points for emigrants and Irish volunteers bound for the trenches in the first World War. They were, in fact, the last buildings many set foot in on Irish soil given that their ships left from the nearby quays.
New headquarters
Meanwhile, construction work has started on the VHI’s new headquarters behind the Abbey Theatre. Designed by architects McCauley Daye O’Connell, part of the structure will be over the former Scots Presbyterian church hall on Abbey Street in Dublin 1.0 -
More for today's Irish Times
Dublin Port plans to ‘reorder area’ to open up to city
Aim is to ‘soften hard edge’ between Port Centre and still-developing north Docklands.
Dublin Port, for long a nearly enclosed semi-industrial estate at the eastern end of Docklands, is planning to open up to the city with an imaginative scheme to reorder the entire area around its own headquarters off East Wall Road.
Project manager Jim Kelleher, who was responsible for the outstanding Diving Bell restoration on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, says the aim is to “soften the hard edge” between Port Centre and the still-developing north Docklands area.
Port Centre, designed by Scott Tallon Walker and completed in 1981, has been marooned behind a stone wall that extends all along the east side of the heavily trafficked East Wall Road, which is extremely hostile to pedestrians.
Standing six storeys high on a podium, the new building replaced the port’s old headquarters at the Ballast Office, on the corner of Aston Quay and Westmoreland Street, which in turn was demolished and replaced by a half-hearted “replica”.
An architectural competition in 2014 led to Darmody Architects winning the commission to create a significant public space around Port Centre, including removal of parts of the unlisted stone boundary wall dating from the 1880s.
Principal architect Tim Darmody says his scheme is “all about port-city integration”, with an impressive set of gates on East Wall Road leading to a plaza in front of the port company’s headquarters and a landscaped “garden” to the south of it.
A new boundary made from pre-rusted Corten steel panels will replace the late 19th-century stone wall at southern end of the two-acre site, with a relocated 10-tonne Stothert & Pitt crane, dating from the 1950s, rearing up above the new wall.
This dramatic installation will be “painted, illuminated, celebrated”, as Jim Kelleher says, as a totem for Dublin Port and its history, clearly visible to motorists driving north across the East Link Bridge towards the Port Tunnel and M50 motorway.
Separately, Dublin City Council is planning to remove the roundabout on the north side of the bridge, replacing it with a set of traffic lights, and “reorder” East Wall Road to make it less intimidating and more attractive to pedestrians and cyclists.
The €5.3 million scheme to open up Dublin Port to the city, scheduled for completion next autumn, will tie in with plans to relocate visiting cruise liners from the nether end of its vast estate to a pair of new berths just east of the bridge.
Dublin Port Company is also planning a 3km “great green line” – in the words of its dynamic chief executive, Eamon O’Reilly – along the northern fringe of the port, providing a new recreational route for cyclists and pedestrians to discover. It would, in effect, form an extension to the “S2S” (Sutton to Sandycove) cycle route, which is taking years to implement. The port company also has plans for a pedestrian and cycle overbridge at Promenade Road, leading into the port area.0 -
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Grand plans indeed but would like to see more high rise than just 7 or 9 storeys. Also filling an area with 80 or 90% offices makes it a very dead place to live at weekends.0
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Also filling an area with 80 or 90% offices makes it a very dead place to live at weekends.
True, but it is far better than building more lifeless offices in horrible places like Citywest. At least when you build an office in the city, nearly all the workers use public transport or cycle as most new offices generally only have a handful of spaces for hundreds of workers as driving in most of the city is not an option
Look at this sizeable office block with only 27 car spaces
http://www.daft.ie/dublin/commercial-property-for-rent/offices-for-rent/one-molesworth-street-dublin-2-dublin-253716/
If that was in Sandyford or Citywest, you can be sure there would probably be well over 100 car spaces.
The IFSC is not that nice of a place to live in IMO, it has a lot of rough areas around it. There is not real character to it and food/drink places are linked. Of course if there was more people living there, there would be more. But none of the buildings even have retails/food space on the ground floor. The massive offices are designed that you dont leave them0 -
Facebook to move into Beckett Building on East Road
If the rumours are true, social network giant Facebook has epic growth plans for Dublin.
Facebook is understood to be close to signing a lease for a building in Dublin that will house 1,000 new workers.
According to reports, the company will acquire a new premises near the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).
Facebook currently employs more than 1,500 people at its international headquarters at Silicon Docks.
The expansion will see the social network locate 1,000 additional workers north of the Liffey, adding to the growing cluster of digital enterprises already in this region, including Yahoo, Dogpatch Labs and Cisco.
According to Bloomberg, the building is owned by the Comer brothers.
It is a 110,000 sq ft building located between East Point Business Park and The Point Village.0 -
Planning Permission Granted for large site clearance works between the Point Village and the New Central Bank.
David Carson, Statutory Receiver of Crossman Properties Limited (In Receivership) and David Carson acting as Statutory Receiver of Chinook Investments (In Receivership), intend to apply for planning permission for development at a site of 1.44 ha (City Block 9) bound by North Wall Quay to the south, Castleforbes Road to the west, Mayor Street Upper to the north and vacant land to the east, and site of 0.57 ha (City Block 3) bound by Mayor Street Upper to the south, New Wapping Street to the west, Sheriff Street Upper to the north and the existing Northbank Apartment development and vacant land to the east. The development consists of the following: - In City Block 9, the demolition of 5 no. vacant buildings with a gfa of 7,363 sq.m including a former retail showroom, 3 no. warehouse premises and a three storey office building- the former premises of Dublin Maritime Limited. Demolition of existing boundary wall and fence on Castleforbes Road/ Mayor Street Upper and demolition of existing boundary wall between the former Tile Style warehouse and former Dublin Maritime Office building/ - In City Block 3 the demolition of 4 no. vacant buildings with a gfa of 5,948 sq.m located to the west of the site including 3 no. light industrial/ warehousing/ manufacturing buildings and the former Stewarts garage premises. - The proposed development includes all associated and ancillary works, including site development works. The application relates to a proposed development within a Strategic Development Zone Planning Scheme area.0 -
Update from the Irish Times
1st March
Site clearance work
For example, site clearance work has just started beside the Gibson Hotel to prepare for a 935 bed space student accommodation scheme in two seven-storey blocks. A consortium of investors paid more than €20 million for the 2.38-acre site only last September. About a dozen similar residential schemes are either under way or in the pipeline.
Nearby, diggers are busy clearing the way for the €600 million mixed-use Spencer Place scheme on a six-acre site beside the new Central Bank on North Wall Quay. This is perhaps the biggest project underway in the capital and, when complete, will have more than a million square feet of space.
Next door at the Dublin Landings development Ballymore Oxley has just confirmed that it plans to start construction on three further office blocks which will deliver an additional 30,679sq m (330,000sq ft) of office accommodation by the end of 2019.0 -
Docklands see 12 % Rise in Property Prices
A new Docklands Residential Report has been published today by Owen Reilly, estate agents in the Docklands.
The report positions Dublin Docklands firmly as the prime residential market in Dublin’s city centre. The average sale price per square metre (PSQM) increased by 11.7% in 2016 – from €5,031 (€467 per sqft) in 2015 to €5,619 (€522 per sqft) in 2016.
A highest price of €10,000 PSQM (€929 per sqft) is noted for a two-bedroom penthouse at Grand Canal Dock. The average fourth quarter asking price reported by the firm of €497,907 was a very striking 90% higher than the fourth quarter average asking price of €261,496 for Dublin City Centre overall, as reported by Daft.ie in their 2016 House Price Report published last week. (This is partially explained by the higher proportion of luxury apartments and penthouses in Docklands.)
The time on the market figures for the year noted in the report are also striking with the average time on the market down from 8.4 weeks in 2015 to 5.7 weeks in 2016. Overall, the average monthly rent in Docklands was noted to have increased by 12.1% with a highest rent PSQM achieved for a two-bedroom apartment at Grand Canal Dock – a rent of €430 per square metre (€40 per sqft).
The report further informs of a market dominated by investors with 72% of properties bought for investment and 76% of purchases made with cash. It is estimated that 72% of buyers were Irish while 85% of tenants who rented from Owen Reilly in 2016 were from overseas.
Commenting on the report, Owen Reilly said, "In Dublin Docklands we would hope to see some tangible positive effects of Brexit, and the residential developments currently under construction hold great promise.”
He added, "The transformation of brownfield sites and the addition of residential stock of a far higher specification will add to the appeal of Docklands, will lift all neighbourhoods and will lift the value of all existing stock."0 -
Anyone have any update on the offices planned for the TedCastles site, just East of the Point? They got planning permission in 2015 but nothing happening.
I understand the Exo is to start construction in Q3 2017, unless anyone has more up to date information.0 -
More very good news from the Irish Times
Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) has sought a revised planning formula for slightly over half its six-acre waterfront site at Spencer Dock in the north Dublin docklands.
This part of the site, to be known as Spencer Place, has been targeted for a development extending to 66,599sq m (717,000sq ft). The four proposed buildings will include a 212-bed hotel, restaurant/retail units and 46,184sq m (500,000sq ft) of LEED platinum-rated office accommodation.
Prior to Ronan acquiring the site last year for a reported €43 million, the receivers involved had obtained planning permission for a redevelopment that included 31,580sq m (340,000sq ft) of offices and a 169-room hotel.
The company has now opted for a larger and more architecturally striking development. Its notable features will include a seven-storey glazed atrium that will be wider than Grafton Street and three stories of internal gardens to provide high-quality public pedestrian routes through the site.
The former British Rail Hotel, a redbrick protected structure at 58-59 North Wall Quay, is to be refurbished as a 2,688sq m office block with substantial restaurant and bar areas at ground floor and basement levels. New modern offices and a hotel will be built to the rear and side.
The hotel will be set across two separate buildings, with unique glazed pedestrian links on each floor connecting the two buildings. A substantial basement will be constructed beneath to house some 1,000 bike spaces, 168 car parking spaces and a fitness centre of about 929sq m (10,000sq ft)
Well connected
The proposed office buildings will appeal to a wide range of occupiers given its location at the heart of the docklands. The location looks set to become is one of the best-connected areas of Dublin given its proximity to transport links, including two Luas stations, the Docklands train station, Connolly station and several bus routes.
Planned capital projects, such as a new pedestrian bridge linking Spencer Dock and Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, along with the Dart Underground project,are likely to be of great benefit to the development.
The remainder of RGRE’s six-acre site, which is not subject to the current planning application, has significant space for further development and already has planning in place for 165 apartments, comprising 23 one-bed, 117 two-bed and 25 three-bed apartments.
It is estimated that the overall size of RGRE’s scheme will be about one million square feet, including developments not part of the current application, and will complete the original Spencer Dock masterplan.
These latest plans will be an impressive addition to the area in which Ronan has already developed an estimated two million square feet of space, including the Convention Centre, the offices of professional services firm PwC, and the 620 Spencer Dock Apartments.
Shane Whelan, development director at RGRE, said the recent planning application was the culmination of months of positive engagement with Dublin City Council. The proposed design incorporated the best architectural elements from around Europe, he added.
“I expect that the development will create the new dynamic heartbeat within the evolving development of the docklands area.”0 -
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has opted for a considerably larger new headquarters than originally planned at the Dublin Landings development under construction in the north docks.
The State agency had initially opted for about 7,710sq m (83,000sq ft) in the first block under construction next to the new Central Bank. It has now decided to rent the entire building, giving it an extra 5,574sq m (60,000sq ft) of space. This will bring the overall capacity to about 13,284sq m (142,986sq ft).
Both lettings will be at the same rent level – €538/sq m (€50/sq ft) and will run for 25 years with break options in year 15.
The NTMA and its Nama subsidiary are currently renting about 9,290sq m (100,000sq ft) in the Treasury Building on Grand Canal Street under a number of leases, some of which are due to run out while others have break clause.
In the meantime, an attempt by Percy Nominees to sell a 33.33 per cent freehold interest in the 1989 Treasury block and a proportion of the rent roll for €33 million has failed to attract a buyer. A company set up by Johnny Ronan and Paddy McKillen controls 66.67 per cent of the rent roll from the building.
Building 1 in the Dublin Landings is expected to be ready for fit out next February or March.
Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore company is partnering Singapore’s Oxley on the €700 million docklands development, which will include 65,000sq m (700,000sq ft) of office and retail space, with five office building due to be completed by 2020.
Development of a second block with about 7,432sq m (80,000sq ft) is well under way in the mixed scheme, which will include 273 apartments.
The amenities on the 2.35-hectare site on North Wall Quay will include rooftop gardens and terraces, a gym extending to 1,000sq m (10,000sq ft) and underground car parking.0 -
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Big Increase in Construction Activity in North Docklands
Irish Times
Much of this marked increase in the pace of development work is located close to the new Central Bank building on North Wall Quay.
Work has just started, for example, on the Paddy McKillen-backed Oakmount’s new 60-bedroom hotel at 82 North Wall Quay. The five-storey project, which involves the conversion of a derelict warehouse, will include a roof-top bar, restaurant, coffee shop and co-working office space at basement level. Designed by ODOS Architects, the €15 million project should be ready by late next year.
Ronan Corbett, head of offices at Cushman & Wakefield, believes the north docks will see the next wave of office development as there are very few sites or refurbishment opportunities left on the southside.
Office space
“The north docks will be the place to be,” he says, “as it has fast-track planning with special development zone status, and can accommodate big floor plates.”
Demand for office space in the Dublin market is accelerating. Andrew Cunningham, director of offices at Savills, says: “We believe that 2017 may see the highest single year of office lettings for the Dublin office market.”
With the Irish economy expected to continue its recovery and a number of significant developments due to enter the construction phase shortly, it is likely the number of cranes on Dublin’s skyline will increase.0
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