Heatons, the low profile but highly successful retailer, appears to have beaten its competitors to secure the anchor unit in the £17 million sterling shopping centre due to open in spring 2002 in the centre of Coleraine, Co Derry.
Coleraine has probably the best Zone "A" rentals in Northern Ireland outside Belfast, with its main shopping street sustaining levels of over £85 per sq ft.
The new 140,000 sq ft shopping centre, which is being developed by a company called Bishopsgate Holdings, an arm of Gerry Jennings's successful property group, has already attracted remarkable levels of interest from retailers, according to sole letting agent O'Connor Kennedy Turtle.
The agent's retail director, Martin Quinn, said interest has so far been shown by retailers which include River Island, HMV, Waterstones, House Works, Clinton Cards, McDonalds, Costa Coffee, BBs, Mark One, Orange and Gerry Webber.
The centre, on three levels, fronts on to the town's Diamond and Church Streets. Mr Quinn said part of its early success is due to its proximity to the town's perennial trading successes, including Bishops Shoes. He said: "Coleraine has 56,000 people in its environs and 120,000 within a 30-minute drive. But it has a tourist population which rises to 1.5 million who spend £13 million in the summer. It is a tradition that people buy shoes from Bishops Shoes."
Mr Quinn said that after a Zone "A" rental of £90 was achieved last year for the New Look outlet in The Diamond, rentals have consolidated at £85. The Heatons Group has opened three new branches in the last six months as part of a £6.5 million expansion programme.
Its latest store at Gorey, Co Wexford, brings its total of stores to 24. This includes three in the North.
The company has plans to open another 25 outlets including the anchor at The Diamond in Coleraine. Heatons, which was established in Athlone in 1946, opened in Lurgan, Co Armagh, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, and Downpatrick, Co Down. One of the factors inhibiting Heatons' ambitions, particularly in Dublin and the east coast, has been the lack of good shopping centre and main street locations with suitable accommodation. The average company requirement is for around 1,300 sq m of retail and warehouse/office space. Earlier this year, Heatons' director John O'Neill complained that Dublin and east coast developers seem to prefer UK multiples to Irish retailers.
The developer of The Diamond Centre, Mr Gerry Jennings, one of the North's leading developers, was one of two developers of the 23-acre gasworks site in Belfast, which is now almost fully let. His development company, Cusp, has succeeded in letting 250,000 sq ft of office accommodation.
Cusp's other Laganside developments include apartments, and a restaurant and bar complex at Clarendon Dock. All of this development is sold out or is fully let.
In 1995 Mr Jennings' construction company, Rotary, won a sizeable slice of the £1 billion contract to construct the new Hong Kong Airport, in a consortium which beat off worldwide competition.
