Paddy McKillen and partner could make €16m on Cork shopping centre

Investor York Capital and developer Paddy McKillen's Clarendon Properties could gain at least €16 million from selling Cork's Wilton Shopping Centre, which they bought from State agency Nama for a reported €70 million.

A fund 90 per cent-owned by US-based York and 10 per cent by Clarendon is selling Wilton on Cork’s southside through estate agents Savills for “at least €86 million”.

The pair bought Wilton from State assets agency Nama in April 2016 in a deal dubbed Project Hazel, which included three other centres in Galway, in Cashel, Co Tipperary and in Drogheda, Co Louth.

Nama did not reveal what each individual shopping centre fetched, but sources estimated that Project Hazel would have valued Wilton, the biggest of the four, at about €70 million.

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Permission

Cork City Council last week indicated it was willing to grant permission for the construction of a new two-storey 7,000sq m shop, 190-bed hotel, cinema, offices and car park there.

The asking price comprises €76 million for the centre and €10 million for the area covered by the conditional planning permission, which is at the site’s northern end.

The centre is a mainly one-storey building with 11,300sq m of shops located at a junction between the Cork suburbs of Bishopstown, Glasheen and Wilton, about 3km from the city centre.

About 200,000 people live within 15 minutes' drive. It is also close to University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology.

Anchor tenant

Wilton’s anchor tenant is Penneys. Other traders include newsagent Eason, pharmacist Boots and optician Specsavers.

The centre is virtually 100 per cent occupied and earns €5.54 million in net income from rents every year.

Tesco has a large store there that the grocery chain itself owns. Any sale will not affect this business.

Fergus O’Farrell of Savills said Wilton was a strong location. “In addition, the opportunity offers future development potential to create a dominant district centre in an area of proven demand,” he said.

Local developer Clayton Love jnr built Wilton Shopping Centre in 1979. It is Cork’s second biggest mall after Mahon Point, on the city’s southeastern edge.

Last year it emerged that Clarendon was joining forces with builder BAM to spend €160 million building apartments, offices and shops on a site in Cork city centre owned by the State public transport holding company, CIÉ.

Irish American hedge fund manager James Dinan founded York Capital in 1991. The New York-headquartered investor manages assets worth $22 billion (€19 billion).