Banking on a great return as  Tralee town centre bank comes on market

Private investors are being invited to become ‘King of the Castle,’ as a Tralee town centre bank, occupied by Bank of Ireland on Castle Street, is being touted for sale, with an attractive rental income of €277,000 pa.

The three-storey building at Castle Street runs to over 8,000 sq ft, with traditional, sweeping facade and more modern rear office sections. It carries a guide of €2.5 million via estate agent Paul Stephenson of Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean, equating to a gross yield of 11%– better than any bank deposits return.

Its held under a 25-year lease, let to Bank Of Ireland from November 2006.

Mr Stephenson stresses the return to be gained, and the building’s high-profile, near The Mall, Denny Street and with neighbours like ptsb, AIB, Paddy Power, Heatons and a range of other retailers. There’s excellent footfall, and dual access to St John’s car park, he adds.

It has a ground floor banking hall, ancillary offices, first floor mezzanine with overhead and on second and third floors are boardroom, manager’s office and canteen.

The Tralee bank sale, via Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean, comes just a month after DTZ put the main AIB bank branch in Waterford at 72/74 The Quay for sale, guiding €2.25m,with a rent of €204,000 pa, a net initial yield of 8.7%.

Waterford’s 6,200 sq ft AIB branch is let until 2027, with a break option five years before that, on upward-only terms with five-year reviews.

Tralee and Waterford’s banks branch sales will be seen as a test of appetite for well-covenanted investments outside of Dublin and Cork. Meanwhile, in Dublin, a Norwegian investor has paid €11.4m for a classic-looking Dublin bank branch at 2-4 Lower O’Connell Street. It is let until 2037 to Ulster Bank, at a current rent of €549,000 pa, with the vendors topping that up to over €600,000 pa until 2017. It shows a 5.08% return.

Details: Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean 066-7180822