The sale of the property known as No 2 Dublin Landings is expected to launch soon, following the decision to entrust Savills with its disposal under the supervision of receivers Deloitte. Despite Savills refraining from commenting about the agreement, industry insiders predict the North Docklands building to go on the market with an estimated price tag of around €60 million.
If sold at the anticipated price, the scenario would just manage to reimburse the €60 million loan that Helaba, a German bank, advanced to the South Korean real estate investment trust JR AMC. The latter combined resources with Hana Financial Investment to purchase the property through German investor KanAm Grund for a whopping €106.5 million. Helaba moved to recover the loaned amount by hiring Deloitte as a receiver earlier this year.
Although the suggested €60 million asking price indicates a significant 44% decrease from what its South Korean buyers spent to gain ownership of No 2 Dublin Landings in November 2018, this reduction is insignificant in contrast to its €140 million assessed value which circulated when Hana and JR AMC contemplated its disposal in 2022.
However, any recent attempts by the owners to refinance the property stumbled upon stumbling blocks following the declaration of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by its tenant, WeWork, in the United States last November.
Constructed as one out of five office buildings by Seán Mulryan’s Ballymore, in collaboration with Singapore-based Oxley as part of their comprehensive 1 million sq ft mixed-use Dublin Landings venture, No 2 Dublin Landings offers 100,546 sq ft of office space spread over six storeys.
The property, though fully leased to WeWork, continues to hang in the balance as the tenant emerged from bankruptcy in late May after reorganizing its global portfolio. The soon-to-be action from US bankruptcy court will remove $4 billion worth of existing debts and deliver a projected saving of $12 billion in potential lease liabilities.
Subsequent modifications to more than 170 office leases and the removal from 160 locations conducted by WeWork accentuate the ambiguity around whether these changes will influence the annual €5.38 million rent it is obligated to pay for No 2 Dublin Landings.
The North Dock office project, situated close at hand, has been in the news due to attempts to sell it only a fortnight after initial offers came forth. Interpath Advisory’s receivers oversaw these bids on behalf of CBRE. Despite an asking price of €130 million for the 202,000sq ft property, it’s believed the offers received during the first round ranged from €60 million to €95 million.
It’s understood that around ten parties tendered their offers for the project, which was brought to life by Targeted Investment Opportunities (TIO). This is a collective fund orchestrated by Nama, Oaktree Capital and Bennett Construction. Some of the names connected to the bidding process, as per market reportage, include Sretaw PE, a property development and investment firm led by Eamon Waters, Hines, BCP, Marlet Property Group under the guidance of developer Pat Crean, Orion Capital Managers, Lugus Capital and Patron Capital.
The offices were initially open for sale last summer by TIO Consortium with a €155 million price tag, but no offers were forthcoming. Pimco appointed Eamon Richardson and Kieran Wallace from Interpath Advisory in February of the present year to jumpstart the stalled sales process.