Irish Residential Properties Reit, the country's biggest private-sector landlord, has applied for permission to build 492 apartments in Sandyford in south Dublin, squeezing in 10 per cent more units than originally planned under eased planning guidelines.
The proposed development consists of three blocks on a 1.13-hectare (2.8-acre) site at the heart of the Sandyford business district, to be built over a substantially completed three-storey underground car park which was unfinished by the previous developer. It also includes ground-floor retail and commercial space.
“It is worth noting that the company’s decision to await the reformed planning regime in Ireland before submitting the planning application is vindicated by the fact that the scale of this development had previously, under the ‘old’ rules, been guided at ‘approximately 450’ units,” said Philip O’Sullivan, an analyst with Investec in Dublin. “IRes can now develop close to 10 per cent additional apartments at the site.”
Rockbrook portfolio
The site stems from IRes’s €90.6 million acquisition in April 2015 – from CapReit, the Canadian apartment company that set up IRes the previous year – of the so-called Rockbrook portfolio, which includes the development land. IRes currently owns 335 apartments in the completed section of the so-called Rockbrook scheme.
The Department of the Environment introduced new guidelines in December allowing for smaller apartments to be built, while reducing the number of “dual-aspect” units in planning schemes.
While IRes has not given details of the cost of build, Mr O’Sullivan estimates it at between €140 million to €150 million.
IRes, which raised €200 million in an initial public offering in 2014, is primarily focused on residential rental accommodation and currently has 2,377 apartments under management in Ireland. The company raised a further €215 million of equity in 2015.
The company said on Friday that about 10 per cent of its leases will come up for renewal in the first three months of next year, with about 20 per cent in each of the remaining quarters.
It said construction of a further 68 apartments at the Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford is progressing well and is expected to be completed by next July.
Rents in south country Dublin surged almost 11 per cent year on year in the second quarter, leaving them more than 5 per cent above their previous peak in 2008, according to Daft, the property website.
