The 12 Deals Of Christmas: The Top Dublin Transactions Of 2022

Despite the worldwide economic turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and spiralling costs and inflation, Ireland’s economy has largely been able to ride out the storm during 2022.

While large-scale global layoffs in the digital and tech sectors are a concern for Dublin’s somewhat tech-reliant office sector, and higher construction costs are impacting housebuilders’ enthusiasm to push ahead with new residential starts, the property industry is ending the year in decent health.

So, with the holiday season nearly upon us, Bisnow looked back at the deals that helped shape the year with a festive 12 deals of Christmas review — with the estimated €6B investment in the commercial property sector supercharged by a number of landmark deals.

That overall figure was dominated by three deals: the sale of Hibernia REIT for nearly €1.1B, plus the deals for Salesforce’s new €500M European headquarters and a substantial portion of Meta’s Dublin 4 campus for €395M.

The top 10 all come in at north of €100M but the review of the year’s top deals starts with two projects which, while they didn’t quite make that milestone, did reflect Dublin’s ongoing attractiveness to international investors.

12. Watermarque Building, Dublin 4, €92M
Blackstone has made itself busy in Dublin buying and selling recently and achieved a €92M price tag for the Watermarque Building in the city’s Docklands with a sale to French investor Corum Eurion. Notable occupants at Watermarque include Google, News UK & Ireland and Pfizer and the deal was the largest yet for Corum. The property sits at the crossroads of Bridge Street and South Lotts Road, and is the fund’s 24th acquisition since it began operating three years ago.

11. Flutter Entertainment, Dublin 4, €97.5M
Private equity company LCN Capital Partners completed the €97.5M purchase of the new 15K SF headquarters offices for Flutter Entertainment (formerly Paddy Power Betfair), located at Buildings 1-3, Founders District (Belfield Office Park) on Beech Hill Road in Dublin 4. LCN Capital Partners bought the property from U.S.-based investor and developer Spear Street Capital and Founders District is situated adjacent to University College Dublin.

10. St Edmund’s Drive, Citywest, Co Dublin, €105M
The first residential deal in this list comes from a company highly active in the Dublin market. Having already spent €122M on the 321 apartments under construction at Magna Drive (see below), Ardstone Capital was back on the acquisitions trail shortly afterward, paying €105M for 252 apartments being delivered at St Edmund’s Drive.

9. Churchview, Killiney, Co Dublin, €110M
Another residential acquisition, this time Park Developments, which secured the €110M sale of a 190-apartment scheme being delivered on a 3.75-acre site beside the Graduate Roundabout in Killiney to Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS. The price paid by the German investor represented an average of €579K per unit. Park Developments acquired the south Dublin site close to Killiney Golf Club for €9.5M in November 2018.

8. Magna Drive, Citywest, Co Dublin, €122M
The second-most-valuable private rented sector transaction saw Ardstone Capital pay €122M in the second quarter to forward-fund construction by publicly listed homebuilder Glenveagh Properties of 321 apartments at Magna Drive in Citywest. Glenveagh had owned the site since 2018 and the price paid represented an average of €380K per unit.

7. Brickfield Square, Crumlin, Dublin 12, €123.5M
The final residential acquisition was the biggest PRS deal of 2022. It took place in November and saw U.S.-headquartered Greystar pay €123.5M for the forward purchase of 282 apartments across four blocks being developed by Brian M Durkan at Brickfield Square in Crumlin, Dublin 12.

The acquisition was supported by debt finance from AIB and represented Greystar’s fourth Dublin deal since its debut in the Irish PRS market in 2019. Completion is expected by June 2026 and resident amenities will include a concierge reception, lounges, a café, coworking space, a fully equipped gym, a bicycle maintenance workshop and a dog grooming salon.

6. Primark Distribution Centre, Newbridge, €129M
In February, German investor Union Investment entered the Irish logistics market in the only industrial/logistics deal to make our festive dozen and, perhaps less surprisingly, also the only project related to retail.

It completed the forward purchase for nearly €129M of a 695K SF warehouse and distribution hub being developed by ABF-owned fashion retailer Primark in Newbridge, Co Kildare, around 50km south west of Dublin. The project will be developed by means of a forward-funding structure by Barola Capital and Primark is investing an additional €75M. The facility will comprise a distribution centre, and warehouse and office space across a 38-acre site.

5. Project Ruby, Multiple Locations, €145M
Reflecting the changing nature of real estate investment, two alternatives deals made it into our top five. The first of these came at the tail end of the first quarter as U.S. investment fund Bain Capital secured the €145M sale of 813 student beds distributed across three blocks in Dublin (Blackhall Place and Cork Street) and Galway (Fairgreen Road) to Ares Management and Generation Partners. All three blocks were offered for sale fully occupied.

4. Project Sapphire, Multiple Locations, €161M
And the second speciality sector deal came when developer Bartra secured €161M from the August sale of Project Sapphire to Belgian REIT Aedifica.

The portfolio, which has capacity for 617 residents, consists of two new nursing homes located in Loughshinny (Skerries) and Northwood (Santry), an HSE transitional care unit in Beaumont (Artane), and the forward purchase of Clondalkin Lodge nursing home, which is currently under development. All of the acquired healthcare properties will continue to be operated under long-term leases by Bartra Healthcare.

3. Meta European HQ, Dublin 4, €395M
The top three are the mega-deals of 2022. The sale of a substantial portion of Meta’s European headquarters in Dublin 4 had already been agreed toward the end of 2021, and its completion in early February 2022 provided an early shot in the arm for overall transactional values for the year.

Blackstone paid €395M for the 340K SF of office space across four existing blocks to the rear of its new Ballsbridge campus, previously owned by the Serpentine consortium, a syndicate of private individuals and companies assembled by AIB Private Banking and Goodbody Stockbrokers. Meta recently announced that it plans to sub-let some of the space.

But this could yet be superseded by a €550M deal that is on the cards between Fortress and Pontegadea, the family firm of Inditex founder Armancio Ortega, for the 375K SF Fibonacci Square, developed for Meta by Johnny Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate.

2. Salesforce European HQ, Dublin 1, €500M
June saw Blackstone Real Estate’s Core+ fund agree to pay just over €500M for Salesforce’s soon-to-be-completed European headquarters at Spencer Place in Dublin’s north docklands.

Developer Johnny Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate and U.S. fund Fortress Investment sold the entire 413K SF office campus of three grade-A buildings on a 15-year lease to Salesforce. The deal also included the adjacent 204-bedroom Samuel Hotel, let to Ireland’s largest hotel operator, Dalata Hotel Group, on a 35-year lease.

1. Hibernia REIT, Portfolio Acquisition, €1.089B
At more than twice the value of the second-placed entry, the largest and most-valuable transaction by far this year completed on 17 June and saw Ireland’s largest listed office landlord, Hibernia REIT, acquired by Brookfield for just under €1.1B.

In completing the deal, the Canadian asset-management giant secured a portfolio valued at €1.35B, including the REIT’s credit facility with Bank of Ireland, which included prime Dublin office assets with a tenant base that featured Twitter, Deloitte and Hubspot. It sourced €930M in loans to facilitate the takeover.