More commercial property news in brief.
New lettings in Portlaoise
A number of retailers will be opening shops this summer in the Dunnes Stores-owned Kyle shopping centre at Portlaoise as its first phase of lettings are completed. Among those joining Dunnes Stores are Argos, Hallmark Cards, Sky TV and the Bag Shop. George Ross of Jones Lang LaSalle says it will be announcing a second phase of lettings in the coming months as it gets into full swing. The Kyle centre has 10,574sq m (113,817sq ft) of retail space and 500 surface car-parking spaces.
€500,000 for Grafton lease
ANOTHER shop lease has come on the market in Dublin's Grafton Street. Douglas Newman Good Commercial is seeking key money of €500,000 for number 57, a narrow-fronted building near the top of the street which has been occupied for several years by Zerep footwear.
It trades out of 167.69sq m (1,805sq ft) at ground, basement and first floor levels, using the top floor for storage. The current rent of €336,000 is due to be reviewed in December 2009.
The same agency has secured a surprisingly high premium of €325,000 for the lease of the O'Brien's sandwich bar premises at JFK Industrial Estate on the Naas Road in west Dublin. The five-day-a-week business had a turnover last year of €500,000.
Dún Laoghaire shop for sale
Dublin agent HWBC is guiding €1.35 million for a key retail premises opposite Marks Spencer at Lower George's Street in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. The property will be of interest to investors and developers because of the development potential of a cleared site at the rear fronting directly on to the Tesco-anchored Bloomfield shopping centre.
The retail unit of 75sq m (807sq ft) in number 56 is currently vacant. The upper floor is let under a 10-year lease to The World Café at a rent of €9,200 per annum.
Volkswagen leases D22 HQ
Volkswagen Group Ireland Ltd has leased a new 4,330sq m (46,607sq ft) headquarters and training building at Liffey Valley in Dublin 22. The group is likely to be paying in excess of €193 per sq m (€18 per sq ft) for the attractive new block off the N4 motorway and the M50. The 25-year lease provides for a break option in year 15. The joint letting agents were Savills Hamilton Osborne King and C B Richard Ellis.
