“Alternative use” pub sites pique interest

Pub sites with alternative use value continue to be the main focus of sales activity in the Dublin pub market, thus the guiding price of €3.75 million for the sale of the 0.8-acre Uncle Tom’s Cabin pub in Dundrum, South Dublin, which has experienced strong demand and which “has now gone to best bids” according to CBRE’s bi-monthly report on the commercial property market.

The Magic Carpet in Cornelscourt, Dublin 18, too, has recently come onto the market with a guiding price of €12 million.

CBRE also continues to see “strong volumes of international capital in particular looking for Irish hotel opportunities both from an occupier and investment perspective, which is encouraging”.

The auctioneer adds, “A transaction that’s likely to attract considerable interest is an opportunity to develop a Cork city centre hotel at Sullivan’s Quay in Cork city.

“The new 220-bedroom hotel will form part of a mixed-use development comprising 8,000 sq m of offices and a landmark 12 storey tower hotel”.

CBRE’s Director of Hotels & Licensed Trade John Ryan told Drinks Industry Ireland, “The combination of the pub and the site have come together again. The last time we saw this was in 2007 when pubs such as the Dollymount House, The Foxhunter and McGowan’s of Churchtown (formerly the Braemore Rooms) were being sold on that basis”.

The intervening period has not seen pubs and development going hand-in-hand, he added, “… but it has crept back in now”.