Colm Wu generates €11.7m from sale of three Dublin properties

Estate agent Robert Colleran had been quoting €8.5m for the Ashtown investment which comprises 15 units in The Village Centre and nine units in the River Centre at Rathbourne/Ashtown.

Its range of retail, office, hospitality and healthcare tenants include The Lock Keeper Bar and Geisha restaurant, Unicare pharmacy, Spar convenience store, Giraffe crèche, Phoenix Dental, the Run Hub, McDonnell & Co solicitors, Brennan Property Consultants, Kilo, Eurostar, Reba hair and beauty, T2 barber rooms and Phoenix skin care.

Between them they were generating more than €800,000 in annual rents.

Mr Colleran says: “There could be potential for a purchaser to increase the current rent roll by increasing rents at rent review stage and by renting out four vacant units.”

The vacant units are units three, four, nine and 10 in the River Centre. He estimated that when they are let, the total rent roll could exceed €1m.

While the total floor area of the units amounts to 3,601 sqm, some straddle both sides of the street known as Ashtown Road.

In addition, the Lock Keeper Bar and Geisha restaurant are located in a separate bar and restaurant building which has outdoor seating overlooking the Royal Canal.

Hospitality operator Alan Murtagh took a lease on the Lock Keeper bar more than a year ago.

SuperValu supermarket is the anchor occupier but it and the An Post branch in the Village Centre are not part of the sale. Also not included in the sale are the overhead apartments and 133 basement car-parking spaces.

The next most-valuable of Mr Wu’s sales was 37 Harcourt Street, a Georgian property which sold for €3.4m with full vacant possession. The protected building extends to 4,944 sqft in four storeys over-basement. It is laid out for a restaurant in shell and core condition on the ground floor and basement, and eight apartments which are in walk-in condition with kitchens and bathroom.

Robert Colleran had been guiding €3.8m for this property which is located beside the Dean Hotel and is opposite the Harcourt Hotel. It is only a few buildings down from the new KPMG headquarters building.

The third property was 11 Harcourt St which sold for €1m and had been occupied on the ground floor and basement floor by Donnelly Leathers. The upper floors are let to Academic Bridge which operates a language school. An industrial unit to its rear, which has planning permission for conversion to offices, was not included in the sale.