An Post is to offer for sale its long-running leasehold interest in Dublin's GPO Arcade.
The sale of the leases will include 10 of the 13 self-contained shops facing into the linear shopping centre, which has frontage on both Henry Street and Prince’s Street North.
Clive Roche of agent Cushman & Wakefield will invite offers of more than €4.18 million for the leasehold interests.
The complex is held on a 200-year lease from the State since 1989 at a current annual rent of €126,974.
Eight of the 10 leases going for sale generate a gross annual rental income of €444,562 and a net figure of €317,588 once the standing charge is paid to the State. The tenants include Specsavers, Nourish and Subway.
Interested parties pitching for the investment will find comfort in the fact that more than 67 per cent of the rental income is secured for more than five years.
New owners should have little difficulty in finding tenants for two vacant shops, which have an overall floor area of 170sq m (1,830sq ft) and are expected to bring in an additional income of at least €100,000 a year.
The 10 shops included in the sale have a combined floor area of more than 1,306sq m (14,058sq ft).
Irish Life owns two additional shop units currently rented by Tiger and JD Sports. A third, Cafe Aroma, has a different owner.
Given Irish Life’s long-term involvement in the GPO Arcade and its ownership of 16 other shops in the Henry Street-Mary Street area, it would be a surprise if it does not pitch for the remainder of the arcade, which will provide a net initial yield of 7 per cent. The guide price of €4.18 million works out at a capital value of only €297 per sq ft.
The GPO Arcade is one of the most distinctive shopping facilities in Dublin, partially because of its location and its original features, including an art deco entrance and an ornate barrel-vaulted glazed roof.
The arcade was built in the mid-1920s when the adjoining GPO was redeveloped after its destruction during the 1916 Easter Rising. Clive Roche is confident of attracting a high level of interest in the arcade because of its “city centre location, reversionary potential and high-yielding income return relative to other retail assets within the immediate area”.
The sale will coincide with a significant period of regeneration in the north inner city, including the planned redevelopment of the former Clerys store on O'Connell Street, the refurbishment of Arnotts department store by Selfridges, and the planned redevelopment of an extensive O'Connell Street site by Hammerson.
