Marker — a scheme apart

SOME of Dublin’s very best apartments come for sale with week in the Marker Grand Canal Dock Scheme, valued at c €40 million, or over €400,000 per apartment.

They rent for between €1,900 and €2,400 per month.

Billed as a “Trophy Multifamily Investment” by agents Savills, the 84 luxury apartments in the Marker Residences earn €2.1m a year in residential rents, from tenants working in nearby tech firms like Google, LinkedIn and Facebook: they’re accompanied by six full-let commercial units totalling over 13,5000 sq ft, and earning €275,000 a year in rent, set to rise to €350,000 pa once stepped rents kick in.

Savills are selling for Dublin-based real estate private equity firm Brehon Capital Partners and Midwest Holding, who bought the unfinished Marker project, including hotel, in 2011. Having bought at a low market ebb, they’ve added significant value in the few years, and the now-trading five-star hotel offers concierge services and spa facilities to the residents.

A Brehon Capital spokesperson said they intend to hold onto the hotel investment for some time as they see significant further capital appreciation and income potential there.

The fully occupied scheme of apartments and shops by Grand Canal Dock includes 113 basement car spaces, and the tenant mix includes Lolly & Cooks, Smiles Dental Clinic, KBC bank, GSN Pharmacy and Hanover Medical, with the final unit 4b under negotiation. Brehon Capital Partners Kevin McGillycuddy noted “we bought this extraordinary development at a time when there was little appetite to invest in Irish residential property and we’ve brought it to life and woven it into the fabric of the Docklands community. Three years on we are very optimistic there will be a high level of demand .”

Fergus O’Farrell of Savills investment department forecast unprecedented level of interest in the multi-family property investment sale.

There has been over €180 million in similar residential acquisitions in the Capital in the past several years, headed by the likes of California-based Kennedy Wilson, and Dublin’s rents are on an upward trajectory due to supply shortages.

* Details: Savills 01-6181300