HSE completes €50m deal for Elmpark office campus in Dublin 4

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has paid just more than €50 million for US property giant Starwood’s remaining interests at Elmpark Green, a vast office and residential scheme developed in 2007 by Bernard McNamara, Jerry O’Reilly and the late David Courtney at a cost of €550 million.

News of the deal’s completion comes just over three months after The Irish Times first revealed that the State’s health authority had entered into negotiations for the scheme.

The price paid by the HSE represents a significant discount on the €190 million Starwood paid in 2016 to acquire the current portfolio and two other assets which it later sold.

The most significant of the properties acquired by the HSE is the Seamark building. Extending to 184,000sq ft, it has best-in-class ESG credentials including LEED platinum certification and an A3 Ber rating following the completion by Starwood and Joe O’Reilly’s Chartered Land of a €45 million refurbishment in 2018.

The other remaining assets include the 91,000sq ft Vista Building, which is leased to global healthcare company Novartis, producing an annual income of €1.8 million, and six ancillary commercial units extending to a combined 44,000sq ft, which comprise a leisure centre, two coffee shops, a creche, a management suite and a conference centre.

The HSE’s interest in the Elmpark Green campus isn’t surprising given the development’s close proximity to St Vincent’s University Hospital.

The HSE recently entered into a lease for space at Elmpark Green as part of plans to relocate staff from St Vincent’s to facilitate the expected development of the new National Maternity Hospital at its existing site.

The HSE secured the Elmpark Green portfolio in the face of competition from a number of parties including Derek McGrath’s Core Capital, Tetrarch Capital, Lugus Capital, Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group, Shane Whelan’s Westridge Real Estate, and Signature Capital.

CBRE advised Starwood on the transaction while QRE Real Estate Advisers acted on behalf of the HSE.