Rohan Holdings secures over €17m from sale at Dublin AirPort Logistics Park

US pharmaceutical courier and clinical packaging specialist Yourway acquires 70,000sq ft Contrail House for use as flagship European depot

Contrail House occupies a prominent position within Dublin AirPort Logistics Park
Contrail House occupies a prominent position within Dublin AirPort Logistics Park

Industrial and logistics specialist Rohan Holdings is understood to have secured more than €17 million from the forward sale of Contrail House, a new 6,500sq m (70,000sq ft) warehouse and office unit it is in the process of developing at Dublin AirPort Logistics Park. The building, which is due for completion later this year, has been acquired by Pennsylvania-headquartered pharmaceutical company, Yourway.

Yourway is, its website says, an “integrated courier and clinical packager for the clinical trials supply-chain market” and offers a full range of primary and secondary clinical packaging, temperature-controlled logistics, storage and distribution services for the global pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Yourway’s expertise covers high-value drugs including active pharmaceutical ingredients, investigational medicinal products and everything required by trials, including kitting and ancillary materials.

The company’s new facility at Dublin AirPort Logistics Park will serve both as its flagship depot for Europe and as a global hub, supported by its other European depots in London, Kyiv, Minsk and Moscow. Yourway’s wider global network of depots includes the company’s headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and depots in Canada, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Israel, South Africa, India, China, Japan, Singapore, and Australia.

Commenting on Yourway’s acquisition of Contrail House, the company’s founder and president, Gulam Jaffer, said: “Ireland’s strength in biopharma combined with Yourway’s presence here for over 15 years contributed to our decision to build our flagship depot in Dublin. We’re anticipating notable market growth in Europe, and Yourway will be perfectly placed to support it.”

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Outside of securing the sale of Contrail House, Rohan Holdings is in the process of completing one other facility (Peregrine House – 4,645sq m/50,000sq ft) at Dublin AirPort Logistics Park, while construction of another (Goldcrest House – 5,574sq m/60,000sq ft) is expected to get under way in the coming months.

Separately, Bio-Techne and the Office of Public Works (OPW) have taken occupation of two newly developed warehouse units totalling 4,180sq m (45,000sq ft) at Rohan Holdings’ North City Business Park development facing on to the M50 motorway at junction 5. Other occupiers at the scheme include Harvey Norman, BWG and Hilti. Rohan is currently at the midpoint in constructing the next unit – a 4,180sq m (45,000sq ft) facility divided into semi-detached units of 1,858sq m (20,000sq ft) and 2,322sq m (25,000sq ft) – at the scheme, and these are available for occupation on long leases at €12.45 per sq ft.

Elsewhere, Rohan is understood to be making good progress on the first phase of its South West Business Park development, which adjoins Citywest and the Cheeverstown Luas red line stop. This first phase will have four warehouse units totalling 14,000sq m (151,000sq ft) complete by year end with units ranging in size from 1,858sq m (20,000sq ft) to 5,574sq m (60,000sq ft). The developer is understood to be in discussions with several potential occupiers on both the first and second phase of the business park. The latter phase will comprise a premium HQ-style facility of 15,050sq m/162,000sq ft (with 10 per cent laid out as office accommodation), and all statutory planning approvals are already in place.

Commenting on Rohan Holdings’ latest transactional activity, the company’s head of asset management, John Casey, said: “We are delighted to welcome market leaders Yourway, Bio-Techne and the OPW to our parks and wish them every success in their new facilities. We look forward to securing a similar calibre of occupiers for our remaining high-bay, LEED-accredited available units in South West Business Park, Dublin AirPort Logistics Park and North City Business Park.”

Commenting on the wider industrial market, Mr Casey said: “While we are experiencing build-cost inflation that hasn’t been seen in over 40 years, we are confident that the new rents required to make development feasible will be accepted by the industry. This confidence is supported by the greater ESG consciousness of occupiers across the market.”

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan is Property Editor of The Irish Times