Starwood acquires Lone Star’s Dublin office pool for €350m
Starwood Property Trust has acquired a portfolio of stabilised offices in Dublin from Lone Star for €350m, in the firm’s first equity investment in Ireland and also the first by a major US REIT in Dublin. The office portfolio sale reflects a net initial yield of circa 5.6% and is indicative of the emerging flight of capital by US REITs into Europe, following NorthStar Realty Finance Corp’s €1.1bn acquisition of the 11-strong SEB portfolio in January.
Lone Star’s original strategy was a €400m refinancing of the Dublin portfolio, including Project Holly assets as well as single properties acquired from RBS, NAMA and Ulster Bank, including 75 St Stephen’s Green. However, Lone Star’s sale to Starwood’s mortgage REIT did not include 75 St Stephen’s Green, acquired through an RBS loan in December 2013 for €79m, which is now expected to be separately sold.
Also excluded from the original Project Holly portfolio was CityNorth, a 100-acre mixed-use commercial development, comprised of office blocks and CityNorth Hotel, the four-star 128-bed hotel in Gormanston.
The assets acquired by Starwood Property Trust include:
- 210,000 sq.ft Iveagh Court Complex, the five-block business and residential complex at the junction of Harcourt Road and Charlemont Street
- Watermarque Building, Bridge Street & South Lotts Road, Dublin 4
- Marsh House, 25/28 Adelaide Road, Dublin 2
- 11-12 Hogan Place, Dublin 2, a four-storey office block close to Merrion Square and south Docklands