16th July 2021
Marlet announces record €270 million financing deal for College Square
RELATED PROJECTS
We are delighted to announce that a consortium of funders have agreed to provide €270 million of development finance facilities to construct our prime College Square site in Dublin city centre. This represents a significant milestone for Marlet, being the largest development financing amount raised in the company’s history, the largest financing in the country since the onset of COVID and an impressive vote of confidence in the medium-term future of Dublin’s office and residential markets.
Funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO) provided a €162 million, four-year, floating rate senior construction loan. Apollo is a high-growth, global alternative asset manager with $461 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2021. PIMCO provided a €108 mezzanine loan, alongside the senior loan from Apollo.
The site occupies a prominent position opposite Trinity College, being bounded by Tara Street, Poolbeg Street and Townsend Street. The facilities will fund the construction of approximately 570,000 sq. ft. of office space together with approximately 18,000 sq. ft. of retail space. The development will be crowned by 54 apartments which sit on top of the office space.
Marlet CEO Pat Crean commented “We are delighted to have secured significant funding from Apollo and PIMCO alongside our partners M&G Investments. This development financing is a landmark transaction for Marlet being our largest to date. It is also one of the largest facilities of its type agreed in the Irish market in recent years and is testament to our track record of delivering high quality buildings for both occupiers and investors. We remain very confident in the future of Dublin’s office and residential markets and look forward to this exciting development taking shape over the next couple of years”.
Commenting on the transaction, Ben Eppley, Partner of Apollo and Head of European Commercial Real Estate Debt, said: “We were thrilled to partner with Marlet to provide financing for the construction of College Square. The property has a strong, central location in the heart of Dublin’s central business district, will be easily accessible and will offer unique amenities. We believe the property will be an iconic addition to the city.”
The College Square development will be completed in three phases with construction works on all phases commencing immediately. As with all Marlet developments, College Square will deliver on the company’s commitment to sustainable and green construction practices, with the aim of achieving both LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum v4, WiredScore Platinum and HPI (Home Performance Index) certifications once completed.