Car park charges boost income at Dundrum Town Centre

Dundrum shopping centre’s decision to increase car park charges helped boost income for its owners in the first half of this year.

London-listed Hammerson, which has a 50 per cent stake in Dundrum and the Ilac in Dublin city centre, said on Wednesday that its Irish business earned net rental income of £17.4 million sterling (€19.47 million) in the six months to June 30th.

Hammerson added that on a like-for-like basis the growth in rent would be 12 per cent for the first half of 2017.

“The principal reasons for the strong performance were at Dundrum, where additional income arose from the settlement of rent reviews and new lettings undertaken, as well as additional non-rental revenues from car park and commercialisation activities since we started to manage the centre from July 2016,” the company said.

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Dundrum increased its hourly car-parking charge to €3 from €2 last year in a move that angered shoppers.

The centre upped the maximum daily rate to €18 from €16, but left the second and third hours parking free.

Premium outlets

Along with Dundrum and the Ilac, Hammerson is due to take a stake in the Pavilion in Swords later this year and has an interest in the Kildare Village outlet.

The company acquired the properties after it joined forces with German insurer Allianz to buy loans to developer Joe O'Reilly from State assets agency Nama in 2015.

It also took 100 per cent control of Dublin central, an undeveloped site between O’Connell and Moore streets on the capital’s northside.

Hammerson chief executive, Dave Atkins, noted that the company’s overall strong performance was “boosted by our high-growth markets in Ireland and premium outlets”.

During the first half of the year it signed leases worth £1.5 million in annual rent.

At Dundrum, it signed up menswear specialist Moss Bros and a first Irish store for Smiggle, which sells school stationary for children.

Hammerson said that Irish occupancy levels remained high at 99.9 per cent while demand from tenants for space was strong.

The developer’s overall net rental income grew almost 10 per cent to £184 million while profit increased 6 per cent to £119.4 million.

Its properties in the Republic, UK and Europe were worth £10.5 billion.