Traders at Blanchardstown Town Centre are facing rent increases of 70-90 per cent but they will still be lower than in some of the competing shopping centres in the Dublin area.
Rents at about 90 of the 120 shops have been due for review to coincide with the 10th year of trading. To date, Green Property Company's agents have negotiated settlements in about 50 per cent of the cases, most of them at a Zone A rent of around €3,659 per sq m (€340 per sq ft). The new headline rent will show an increase of 79 per cent over the standard rent of €2,045 per sq m (€190 per sq ft) set in 2001.
Agents Jones Lang LaSalle and HWBC, who act for Green, claim they could have sought rent increases of up to 124 per cent on the basis of rent levels agreed with newly arrived traders. One of these, Salsa, a European fashion trader, is paying the equivalent of a Zone A rate of €4,574 per sq m (€425 per sq ft).
Even after settling for a lower overall rent, Green will see its annual rent roll increase from €29 million to about €45 million when all the reviews are completed early in the new year.
Green's decision to go for what it calls a "modest" increase on this occasion stems from a desire to hold on to the extensive range of independent traders which, along with the many multiples, give Blanchardstown such a broad appeal.
The rival shopping centre at Liffey Valley is already charging tenants an average of €4,305 per sq m (€400 per sq ft) since rents were reviewed in 2003. Rents in Dundrum Town Centre started off at around €3,300 per sq m (€306.5 per sq ft) but have now moved to above €4,000 per sq m (€371.6 per sq ft).
Tenants at The Square in Tallaght pay an average of €2,583 to €2,691 per sq m (€240 to €250 per sq ft) but then the prospect of securing substantially higher rents may have encouraged developer Noel Smyth to acquire the centre before the summer.
