How to let Georgian offices - Advice wanted

ODS

Hi all,

An architect pal of mine has a Georgian house on the corner of Mountjoy Square in Dublin 1, which he has done an excellent job in restoring. For the last 10 or so weeks he has been trying to let the hall floor and the 1st floor - but to little avail. The asking price was 44,000 per annum, and he has since reduced it to 40K - but it is still not set

It is on daft.ie and also myhome.ie as well as being with an agent; other than that, there is the occasional ad in the Times. I have looked at the brouchere, and suggested that he mention that the Dublin Bus's flagship service, the 46A route, now serves the square. Other than that, and a suggestion that he looks at getting a write-up in the property pages of Times/ Indo, I am fast running out of ideas!

Hence I thought I might ask the wizards of boards as to whether there might be any thoughts or advice as to what can be done to get it let!

It is an excellent premises, with a real top-notch job done on the restoration, and would suit professionals such as lawyers, designers, doctors, corporate HQ, etc

Has anybody else had any experience with something like this, or what would you do if you were he?

Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated

Thanks in advance -

Ods


The URL address for the current advert at daft is here, so please feel free to take a look and click!:

http://www.daft.ie/searchcommercial.daft?search=1&s[cc_id]=ct1&s[a_id]=pc1&s[min_size]=&s[max_size]=&s[pt_id]=1&limit=10&search_type=commercial&id=2151

NewFrockTuesday

Is it maybe a bit expensive? Could that be what is putting prospective tennents off? Its a shame after all his work that its not going. Maybe he could get a lonfger term tennent by giving a reduced rent the first year as long as they sign for 5 or 10 years?
How long has he had it on for?
The link isint working for me.

ODS

Hi Dellgirl; thanks for your comments. It seems to be a competitive rent - from what Ive looked at at other comparible places to let, eg Nth Gt Georges St etc. From what I can see it works out about 1/2 the price of the equivilent in the Georgian Quarter on the south side - and he dropped it by 4K already.

The address is working now - and many thanks to Victor for getting it to work!

Re the lease, he's offering a 4 year, 9 month lease - but Im sure he's open to negotiation.

Thanks for thoughts - its much appreciated

lomb

Its probably worth about 20 euro a square foot, hard to say though, headline rents can be 40-60 a square foot although i dont think ul get them unless in a glass tower.
he could always sell it i suppose if he has no use for them and buy some apartments or semis, plenty of owner occupiers want to buy and have the cash no one wants to rent tbh.

BC

Whats the story with the lease, 4 years, 9 month?? Does the mean its only available for 4 years and 9 month, sounds very specific?

ODS

Its preferred terms: Afaik a full 5 yrs may give rights to the tenant that he's not prepared to give - while at the same time he doesnt want to have to do up the place again if a tenant took a 3yr lease and than split!

lomb

ive seen offices sit to let for a year, and not letting, yet when its put up for sale they sell in a week. bottom line u lose 10% in transactions costs if u sell and rebuy but if theres no other option to get a yield...
another option is conversion to residential , of say 3 apartments, which will yield 3600 a month, but it would need planning and a fit out.
ask yourself who would want an office there. doctors are locatating in malls and retail areas as are lawyers. it doesnt have alot of uses as its perhaps too large to let as a single unit. beautiful property though be great as a townhouse, lucky guy;)

ODS

lomb wrote:

another option is conversion to residential , of say 3 apartments, which will yield 3600 a month, but it would need planning and a fit out.

Thats a point, but way too much was spent on refurbishing it as offices to turn the ship after leaving port, as it were. I take your point about lawyers and doctors relocating to retail areas, mind you, it certainly would appear to be a trend.

lomb wrote:

it doesnt have alot of uses as its perhaps too large to let as a single unit.

Here I think you have a very valid point. I think he'll have to look at leasing the floors as two separate units - something that he hasnt beeen too keen on as he lives on the top floors & has his practise in the return. More tenants = more potential complications, was the way he has been thinking - but no tenants at all as is case at the mo is extremely complicating!

lomb wrote:

beautiful property though be great as a townhouse, lucky guy;)

You wouldnt believe, but in the 60's the house was actually scheduled for demolition by the corpo :eek: This happened all around town then - and an awful lot was lost . Happily this particular building was saved thru conscientious intervention

antoinolachtnai

The commercial/office market isn't like the residential market. It's a lot less fluid. You have to know where the buyers are. A lot depends on the agent.

I don't know, but he might need to make it clear in the ad that he is flexible on the lease terms. If someone wants to take a longer lease, why wouldn't he take it?

There is no mention of car parking that I can see. You are going to have a tough time attracting a growing professional services firm if there is no parking.