Cuisine man assembles Grafton St site

DUBLIN’S GRAFTON Street is to get another major store . . . but not yet. Businessman and property developer Ronan McNamee, who made a fortune from the sale of bread producer Cuisine de France to IAWS in 1997, has assembled a high profile site linking the former O’Connor Jeans shop at number 23 Grafton Street with the defunct Creation Arcade at the rear.

The site will eventually be redeveloped as a multi-storey retail building with large floor plates.

Although planning approval for the enlarged retail block has not yet been obtained, the city council’s planning strategy for the street would seem to facilitate the amalgamation of smaller shops to create more attractive stores for international traders.

McNamee has invested heavily in the Grafton Street site, paying almost €20 million early in 2006 for the O’Connor Jeans store, which was then producing a rent of €241,250.

Once the rent was reviewed, the yield went to over 2 per cent – still a record for the street. Early in 2008, McNamee spent a further €17 million acquiring the Creation Arcade from long-term owners, the Esses family, who are understood to have been advised by Savills. It was one of the last major retail sales in the city before the banking crisis developed.

The decades-old arcade, which had been struggling over the years, had about 400sq m (4,306sq ft) of retail space in a variety of small units and an overall floor area of something short of 600sq m (6,458sq ft).

There are separate exits from the arcade onto Duke Street, Lemon Street and Duke Lane. This was the second arcade in the area to have closed in recent years. The Grafton Street Arcade was acquired some years ago by Marks Spencer and amalgamated with adjoining space to create the Tommy Hilfiger store.

Like most other developers, McNamee will not be embarking on an expensive redevelopment scheme in the present recession and has just let the original O’Connor’s Jeans shop to top-end Scottish retailer Dalvey, which specialises in luxury accessories for men, including watches, cufflinks, desk gifts and hip flasks.

John Garvey of Lisney, who handled the letting for the landlord, had been quoting an annual rent of €350,000 for a 10-year lease of the four-storey over basement building with a combined floor area of 340sq m (3,660sq ft) including 97sq m (1,044sq ft) at street level.

The owner is likely to have settled for a lower rent in the present environment and may also have insisted on a shorter lease to enable him to redevelop the site when the retail market picks up.

Michael Harrington of Dublin agent HWBC advised Dalvey, which will be making its first appearance in the Dublin market.

Earlier this year, Savills was rumoured to have let the O’Connor Jeans shop to the Belfast-based jewellers Argento. The deal was not apparently completed but Argento is understood to be still looking for a trading opportunity on Dublin’s top high street.

• Meanwhile another jeans company, Levi Strauss, has taken a 10-year lease on new offices in Columba House, Airside Business Park, Swords, Co Dublin. Agent Palmer McCormack acted for Levi, which is renting 152sq m (1,638sq ft) at €226 per sq m (€21 per sq ft).