A MARKETING campaign has been launched to find a replacement tenant for the former Superquinn store at the troubled Carroll Village shopping centre in Dundalk, Co Louth. The 3,800sq m (40,903sq ft) store was one of five supermarkets sold by Superquinn to Friends First in 2007 for €100 million.

The financial services group involved in the sale-and-leaseback deal just before the property market collapsed subsequently managed to sell on the Naas branch to Primark for around €25 million.

The Dundalk store was the only Superquinn branch not included in the Musgrave group’s buy out of the supermarket chain from receivers KPMG last July.

The original Superquinn store in Carroll Village closed in February 2009, but reopened just before last Christmas after the landlord threatened legal action unless the company met its commitments to run a supermarket on site.

As a result a store opened under the name of Carroll Village supermarket and was owned and operated by Superquinn.

Friends First has now instructed Lisney to find a replacement tenant in Carroll Village where most of the adjoining shops have ceased trading.

Hugh Markey of Lisney said he did not know the details of the original rent agreement between the landlord and Superquinn but he would now consider all offers for the vacant premises which could also be used as a furniture outlet.

“We are not quoting a rent, we are open to offers of, maybe, €5 or €10 a square foot or maybe for a trader to pay the service charge for a year or two until they get on their feet.”

Carroll Village was developed by Gerry Maguire’s Parolen company about 10 years ago. The only shops currently trading are a pharmacy and a bookshop, according to Markey.

The centre adjoins the Long Walk shopping centre.