HIBERNIA REIT HAS announced that it will spend around €25 million finishing off 213 partially completed apartments in Dublin before selling them on.

The apartments at Wyckham Point in Dundrum will be completed by building contractor JJ Rhatigan, with work on the site expected to be finished by the end of next year.

However, the first apartments will come on the market for rent around mid-2015, Hibernia said today. Around 160 construction workers will be employed on the project.

Hibernia snapped up the loans secured on the apartment development as part of its debut in the Irish property market this February, paying Ulster Bank €70 million in the deal which also included 16 other assets.

Spending spree

Since then, the group has gone on a spending spree in Dublin, sinking more than €300 million into properties in and around the capital.

This summer, Hibernia secured a block of buildings on Dublin’s south docks in advance of what is expected to be considerable redevelopment of the area. It has also purchased several office buildings in the IFSC.

Source: Hibernia

Kevin Nolan, who is managing the investment for Hibernia, said that the apartments “will offer some of the best multi-family accommodation in Ireland and we will be bringing these units to the market at a time when residential accommodation in Dublin is in short supply”.

Deal for former Eircom building

Elsewhere today, Hibernia announced that it is providing the seller of the former Eircom headquarters at Cumberland House in Dublin City Centre with a short term loan of €38 million.

The real estate trust, which raised a war chest of €385 million for its Irish property plays late last year before borrowing a further €100 million from Bank of Ireland this summer, is in exclusive talks to buy the building close to Merrion Square.

The loan is thought to be designed so the seller, Morretino Limited, can service its own financial obligations in advance of a final deal for the building between the pair in the coming weeks.

Morretino had secured planning permission to knock the existing building, although it’s understood that Hibernia will abandon this plan in favour of an extension to the office block if its bid is successful.

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