Practices

Real Estate

Our expertise:

We advise on the sale, purchase, letting and financing of all real estate classes including office, industrial, retail, health, development land, PRS, student accommodation, energy projects and hotels. We work closely with our market-leading colleagues in construction, environmental and planning, finance, tax and funds delivering a truly integrated, collaborative and complete service to our clients. We manage delivery using technology and project management in an innovative and efficient manner.

We have, over many decades, garnered a national and international reputation for excellence, which has won us many instructions both directly from internationally recognised real estate institutions and indirectly where we work with the top law firms in foreign jurisdictions.

Our clients include institutions, banks, government agencies as well as international companies and investors.

Key areas:

Matters we advise on include:

• Real Estate Development: We advise clients on a range of projects including mixed-use urban regeneration projects, energy projects, office and mixed use development, PRS (private rented sector), PBSA (purpose built student accommodation), retail and leisure projects, health sector assets and other significant projects in Ireland. Our lawyers handle all relevant disciplines, from advising in relation to planning and environmental law requirements to drafting state of the art construction, funding and leasing documents and ensuring competition law compliance on larger deals.
• Real Estate Finance: Focused on the funding of real estate across all sectors from portfolio office and hotel deals to energy and infrastructure. We act for the leading financial institutions in our market (both banks and non-bank lenders), investors, developers and funds. We are active in all sectors.
• Real Estate Investment: From buying and selling of stabilised income-producing assets to more complex investment and development opportunities, establishing investment vehicles (such as real estate funds), joint ventures and limited partnerships, we have decades of experience behind us in complex, high-value and innovative transactions. We also possess cross-border investment experience for advice and structuring. Associated finance, corporate, funds and tax advice on all real estate investment is a key element of our team’s offering.
• Real Estate Leasing: We have been involved in several of the most significant letting transactions in the our market over many years, representing occupiers on headquarters relocations, acting for institutional landlords, tenants and retail clients on marquee lettings and advising on all aspects of landlord and tenant law. We are often the firm of choice for foreign entities looking to establish their Irish presence and headquarters with an impressive track record on such high profile transactions. We often draw on complementary advice from teams around the firms on liquor licensing, disputes, tax and finance.

Key highlights include advising:

• Salesforce in relation to an agreement for lease of a new purpose-built campus in the heart of Dublin’s silicon-docks, representing the largest single office letting in the history of the State
• Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. as lender to Henderson Park on its €1.34bn acquisition of Green Reit plc
• Mapletree Investments on its purchase of The Sorting Office redeveloped building in the Grand Canal Docks, Dublin for a reported consideration in excess of €200m
• Irish Life in the sale of two office blocks in Belfield Office Park in Clonskeagh, Dublin
• WeWork on multiple transactions including the separate but interconnected agreements for lease for four redeveloped office blocks at Charlemont in central Dublin
• Central Bank of Ireland in relation to its acquisition and completion of a new HQ building on Dublin’s North Wall Quay, as well as the disposal of its former HQ at College Green, Dublin
• Global Student Accommodation on the acquisition, financing, construction and leasing of several major student accommodation projects in Ireland
• Hines and King Street Capital in relation to their ongoing interests at the substantial Cherrywood development in South Dublin
• A large US private equity fund and its asset managers on the acquisition and then phased development of large residential land-banks at both Adamstown and Portmarnock in Dublin.  More recently, we advised the client on the acquisition of the largest remaining residential development land-bank site within the M50 corridor in Dublin (at Cherrywood) for PRS and housing development with scope for over 3,000 units, together with ancillary commercial.
• The syndicates of lenders on development financing of circa €260m to Ronan Real Estate Group to develop Spencer Dock (c. 736,000 sq. ft. mixed use development and circa €220m to develop a high profile site in Ballsbridge (Fibonacci Square), being the subject to a pre-let to Facebook Ireland
• Urbeo Residential ICAV, which is part of a joint venture with Starwood Capital on the purchase and finance of several significant PRS assets
• Primary Health Properties REIT, a FTSE 250 primary care specialist, on its Irish portfolio of acquisitions and developments, as well as the private placement of a loan note secured on its Irish assets