Private Irish investor in €8.75m deal for Blackrock office block

Having come to the market at a guide price of €10.25 million in April of this year, Block 2 at Blackrock Business Park in south Dublin has been sold to a private Irish investor for €8.75 million. The purchase price will provide the new owner with a net initial yield of 9.5 per cent based on the property’s contracted rent of €919,999 per annum.
Block 2 briefly comprises a standalone three-storey office building extending to 2,571sq m (27,678sq ft) with 71 car-parking spaces. The property has strong sustainability credentials, with a Ber rating within the B1 to B3 range with scope for further improvement. The tenant line-up comprises Identigen and Becton Dickinson, with a weighted average unexpired lease term of about four years to break and 10 years to lease expiry.
Identigen occupies the ground and second floors of the building and recently completed a full fit-out of the second floor, while Becton Dickinson occupies the first floor and has also recently completed a new fit-out of their space.
Identigen is an Irish food safety and traceability company with operations in Ireland, Britain, continental Europe and the United States. In 2020, the company was acquired by Merck subsidiary MSD Animal Health in a multimillion-euro deal. Becton Dickinson, meanwhile, is one of the largest medical-technology companies in the world.
The sale of Block 2 was handled by Conor Whelan and David O’Malley of QRE Real Estate Advisers on behalf of joint receivers Sharon Barrett and Declan Taite of Kroll Advisory.
News of the transaction follows last year’s €13 million acquisition by Remake Asset Management of the neighbouring Blocks 3, 4 and 5 from US real-estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson.
Outside of the latest deal activity at Blackrock Business Park, the wider Blackrock area has seen significant rejuvenation over recent years. Aviva recently completed a comprehensive refurbishment and repositioning of the Blackrock Village Centre, which now comprises more than 7,400sq m (80,000sq ft) of retail and office space, while the nearby Frascati Shopping Centre has also undergone a significant redevelopment.