WHITEWATER shopping centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare, has had the distinction of signing one of the most lucrative lettings of any of the top provincial retail centres this year.

Boots is to pay around €500,000 for a pharmacy premises of 510sq m (5,500sq ft) under a new 15-year lease with a break option in year 10. The company will be able to avail of a short rent-free period.

Health Express, which had been trading in Whitewater since it opened five years ago, paid a reverse premium to the centre owners to withdraw from its lease. It had been paying what one agent described as a “Celtic Tiger rent” thought to have been in excess of €700,000 per annum. It is also understood to have paid a premium of over €1 million for the lease – a standard practice during the boom years when chemist chains competed with each other for key trading positions, particularly in shopping centres. The Whitewater chemist premises is particularly well located on the ground floor beside Debenhams.

The arrival of Boots will further strengthen the appeal of the centre which is seen by many midland shoppers as a powerful alternative to shopping in Dublin. It is one of the few provincial shopping centres to have steadily increased its footfall and is now atttracting around 100,000 shoppers per week. The line-up of tenants includes Marks Spencer, HM, Zara, River Island and Tommy Hilfiger. Other recent arrivals are Starbucks, Carrig Donn and Ginseng.

One of the great attractions of the centre is the extensive foodcourt on the first floor which has eight food outlets servicing customers in an extensive seated area. The centre also includes a six-screen cineplex and 1,700 car parking spaces.

Whitewater is owned by Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore Group and the family of the late Liam Maye.

Letting agents are Bannon and Savills while HWBC represented Boots.