A round-up of today's commercial property news stories in brief
Next for Maynooth
The first ever stand alone Next store catering exclusively for children is to open in the middle of November at the new Tesco-owned Carton Park shopping centre in Maynooth, Co Kildare.
The UK fashion chain has agreed to pay Tesco a percentage of the turnover (thought to be around 8 per cent) instead of a fixed rent for the store which will extend to 655sq m (7,050sq ft). The Maynooth centre is a relatively short distance from Liffey Valley where Next operates a store of 2,787sq m (30,000sq ft).
Heatons is also planning to open a store of 2,550sq m (27,500sq ft) with the upper floor occupied by Sportsworld. The rent will be €279 per sq m (€26 per sq ft).
Tesco Extra is already trading in the park where it also has a petrol filling station. McDonalds also opened its 76th Irish drive-through restaurant during the summer.
DTZ Sherry FitzGerald is marketing the remaining units in the first phase which range in size from 351 to 900sq m (3,778 to 9,688sq ft). Karl Stewart of DTZ says that since announcing the Next, Heatons and Sportsworld lettings, there had been significant interest from other high profile retailers. He also said that, given the open use planning available in the park, he expected further interest from fashion retailers looking to capitalise on the out-of-town trading format.
Italian bank opens HQ
A mid-sized Italian bank, Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM), has opened a new Irish regional headquarters in Dublin.
It is to rent a 420sq m (4,521sq ft) penthouse in Europa House at the Harcourt Centre on Harcourt Street in Dublin 2. The nine-year and 11-month lease provides for a break option in year five. BPM employs 8,000 people in its 702 branches in Italy. Jim O’Reilly of HT Meagher O’Reilly handled the letting and Finnuala O’Buachalla of Jones Lang LaSalle advised the bank.
Stepaside creche makes 2m
A private investor has paid in the region of €2 million for a crèche investment at the Belarmine residential development in Stepaside, Co Dublin. The initial yield will be 8 per cent before valuable capital allowances are taken into account.
The building extends to 766sq m (8,245sq ft) and is let on a long term, full repairing and insuring lease to Giraffe Childcare. The new owner can claim 95 per cent capital allowances on the purchase price against Irish rental income and a balance of €31,750 per annum against non-rental income. Michael Clarke of Savills Investment Team, who handled the sale, has several other tax-based investment opportunities available in the Dublin area.
talian shirt store for Quays
Men’s Italian fashion brand 7 camacie is to open a shirt store at the Quays shopping centre in Newry. Savills, which handled the letting, has also let a large store at Victoria Square in Belfast to fashion retailer Timberland.
130,000 rent for nursing home
Lisney is quoting a rent of €130,000 per annum for a 24-bedroom nursing home at Palmerstown, Dublin 20.
Riversdale House, a two-storey over lower ground floor period house, was used as a children’s home until recently and before that operated as a nursing home. It was refurbished about 10 years ago. There are 33 car-parking spaces on site.
Buy-Lo for Ashbourne
Buy-Lo, an Irish retailing company set up to compete with discounters Aldi and Lidl, is to open a new store at Ashbourne Retail Park in Co Meath.
The company is fitting out the Marlin car auction building which has a floor area of 1,486sq m (16,000sq ft). Buy-Lo was set up by the Cork-based Barry Group and will offer a wide range of branded products at discounted prices. Paul McCoy of CBRE, joint letting agent for the park with HWBC, says the operation is similar to the US-based Sam’s Club, a sister company of Walmart.
Also new to the park will be Fun Galaxy which will operate a 2,040sq m (22,000sq ft) children’s activity and play centre.
The park owners are in negotiations to find a replacement for 4Home Superstore which recently closed its large homestore and garden centre. The park also has a new six-screen cinema complex which is attracting over 4,000 customers per week.
New Irish HQ for leasing firm
QLogic, the leading company in storage area networks, is to lease a new Irish headquarters (above) in the second phase of the Blanchardstown Corporate Park in west Dublin. The 1,393sq m (15,000sq ft) building has been specially designed to suit the company and will be rented at €161 per sq m (€15 per sq ft).
Conor Whelan of BNP Paribas Real Estate advised QLogic and Lisney acted for the developer
