A round-up of today's other commercial property news in brief ....
Tenants for light industrials
In spite of the slowdown in the commercial letting market, agent Lambert Smith Hampton has managed to find tenants for three light industrial buildings in Dublin south-west and north-west.
Chloride, which is part of the Chloride Group plc, has taken a 10-year lease on 266sq m (2,863sq ft) in an end-of-terrace building at Westpoint Business Park in Mulhuddart, Dublin 15.
In Ballymount Business Park, Dublin 24, Oldbridge Concrete Products is to open new showrooms for its landscaping and paving products. It has taken a four-year and nine-month lease of Unit 4 at the park which has a floor area of 223sq m (2,508sq ft).
Meanwhile, a Northern Ireland company, Flanagan Flooring, has opened its first Dublin outlet at Willow Business Park in Dublin 12. It has taken a short lease on a building of 210sq m (2,260sq ft).
Navan retail park extension
With Blackwater Retail Park in Navan struggling – like many others in the provinces – a rival park already built and ready-to-go, and a third (and better located) park going through the planning process, many will be surprised by the decision of the Clayton Love-owned Douglas Developments to look for permission to expand the three-year-old Blackwater complex on the former Navan Carpets site.
The company has given notice of its intention to extend two existing buildings for use as a “retail/discount retail store”. The plan is to provide an additional 770sq m (8,288sq ft) of space.
Separately, the owners have sought permission for five retail units – totalling 712sq m (7,664sq ft) – in the surface car-park. Could German discounters be looking for a new pitch?
If all this additional space is approved, customers may well have to take their lives in their hands and park along the dangerous Navan-Kells road.
Record low for UK rents
British commercial property rental values have been trending downwards for 24 consecutive months on a rolling three-month basis, according to the latest findings by researcher Investment Property Database (IPD), ending April at -3.21 – the lowest rental value equivalent figure since December 1992.
Three-month measures for rental value growth – which is a key indicator for landlords with properties either vacant, approaching expiry or nearing a break clause – are used in order to help smooth out monthly fluctuations.
Malcolm Frodsham of the IPD said: “Rental values haven’t fallen this rapidly for more than 16 years. The demand shock has been so severe, given the breadth of industries affected by the downturn and the scale of companies downsizing, that office relocations and expansions have been off the agenda.
“Given the pace of rental adjustments to date, it suggests that, when the wider economy does recover, the UK commercial market will be well placed to recover from a low base.”
Kurt Geiger for Belfast
Kurt Geiger, the luxury shoe retailer with over 100 outlets in Europe, has selected Victoria Square in Belfast as its first stand-alone store in Ireland. The decision to open in Belfast, rather than Dublin, may take some of its customers by surprise given the weakness of sterling and the fact that Dublin shoppers tend to have greater purchasing power at the top end of the market. Kurt Geiger specialises in designer-led own brands with “new and inventive takes on the season’s hottest trends”. It operates concessions in House of Fraser, Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Dublin. Letting agents for Victoria Square are Savills and DTZ.
€ 2m for Waterford shop
Michael Clarke of Savills is seeking €2 million for a three-storey retail and office investment at Broad Street in the centre of Waterford city. The deal would show a yield of 8.2 per cent.
The 370sq m (3,983sq ft) building is let to 3G Mobile Ltd on a 25-year full repairing and insuring lease from 1987 at a rent of €177,500. The block occupies a high profile corner location on a pedestrianised section of Broad Street, one of the best retail pitches in the city. Other neighbouring traders include Footlocker, Boots, H Samuel and A-Wear.
Spencer Dock retail units
Treasury Holdings is seeking tenants for 13 new retail units at Spencer Dock in the north Dublin docklands. The units are between the new National Convention Centre and a residential quarter where most of 600 new apartments are occupied. Several major companies are in the area, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fortis, the Central Bank, Financial Services Authority and the UK Nationwide Building Society.
Treasury says that over 3,000 people work in Spencer Dock, a figure that is expected to rise to 25,000. An estimated 13,000 people live within a 15-minute walk of the area – some 40 per cent of who are aged between 25 and 44.
A new bridge which opened over the Royal Canal last Friday will allow pedestrians and cyclists to move freely between the IFSC and Spencer Dock. A new Luas service is expected to open by the end of the year with stops at the IFSC, Spencer Dock and the 02.
