Retail News- Iceland to create 25 jobs, Evan’s Henry St store for sale and Waterford’s City Square Centre upgrades

 

Food giant Iceland is set to create around 25 new jobs in Galway

The retailer which is well known for its discounted chilled and frozen offering has announced plans to opens a new supermarket in Doughiska, Galway later this year. The new store will be situated in a 16,500 square foot premises in the Merlin Commercial Park and is expected to open in May. The location had previously been rented to Lidl in 2008 with a 25 year lease of €430,000 per annum. There was a break clause in the contract last year and the building was one of a number of locations in the commercial park to be put up for sale and bought prior to auction. The Galway store is one of three new outlets the retailer will open in Ireland this year, employing an additional 75 people. The company operates more than 800 stores in the UK alone, with further outlets in the likes of Spain, Jersey and the Czech Republic.

Evans’s Henry Street store on the market for €18m

Dublin’s Henry Street will be in focus for investment funds as the premises at 42-43 Henry Street goes on sale. The space is currently occupied by the women’s fashion outlet Evans.

The whole of the building, which is situated at the corner of Henry Street and Moore Street, is let in its entirety to the Arcadia Group at a rent of €865,000 per annum. The 35-year lease was signed in 1985 and has a remaining 3.6 years to run. Kevin McMahon of Savills is guiding €18 million for the investment which will show a net initial yield of 4.60%.

The sale is significant because of the amount of retail space available, unique for the street. The building has 14.5m of frontage on to Henry Street and a further 12m return on to Moore Street. The building is four-storeys with an overall floor area of 961sq m (10,342sq ft) including 260sq m (2,800sq ft) at ground-floor level.

Dublin’s retail sector has seen a growth in jobs and retail sales with a number of high profile international brands such as Ann Summers, Victoria’s Secrets, Hugo Boss, COS, “& Other Stories” opening stores in the capital.

Construction work begins on Waterford’s City Square Shopping Centre

Construction work on the upgrading and extension of the City Square Shopping Centre in Waterford has begun. The centre was bought almost two years ago for more than €21 million.

Changes will be made to the centre’s food court on the first floor which will allow four new restaurants and cafés to be added to the existing range of outlets. Specsavers and GameStop will be relocated to larger units and a new Inglot store is will be opened.

Located in the centre of Waterford, City Square is laid out over two main retail floors with both Dunnes Stores and Debenhams occupying two levels alongside an additional 34 retail units and kiosks. Shoppers have access to 450 car parking spaces over two basement levels which were sold more. Management are currently seeking four stores to occupy spaces that will be created in the extension.

Grafton Street Retail and Office Portfolio to sell for €118 million

Royal London Asset Management is planning to offload eight prime retail properties and five offices in Dublin City Centre with an overall value believed to be in the region of €118 million. The portfolio includes the weekend 24 hour McDonalds on Grafton Street.

The sovereign portfolio currently produces an overall rent roll of €7,412,200. It would give the purchaser a 6% net return according to the selling agent CBRE. Royal London has been weighing up the option to sell the lucrative portfolio for some time. They had previously offered the same portfolio in 2009 and 2010 but withdrew it both times as a result of the property crash.

Investors will have the option to bid for the entire portfolio or separately. The sale offers serious scope across Dublin with properties on Grafton Street, Henry Street, Dawson Street, O’Connell Street and Westmoreland Street as well as Patrick Street, the main shopping avenue in Cork.

CBRE is inviting offers in excess of €83.3 million for the retail portfolio which is producing a rent roll of €4,514,686 and will show a net initial return of 5.18 per cent.

The selling price for the offices will be at least €34.7 million and with these investments rented at €2,897,514 the net return in this case will be 7.99 per cent.

The most valuable asset in the portfolio is the McDonalds which resides on 7-11 Grafton Street which bring in an overall rent of €1,820,000. The other main retail contributor is Office Shoes who pay €990,000, as well as The Body Shop at €165,000 and Swan Training at €65,000.

Some of the other properties include:

85-86 Grafton Street – Clarks Shoes and Pamela Scott

Hodges Figgis – 57-58 Dawson Street

Tower Records and Optica – Dawson Street

Motivational Weight Management Dr. Simon Collins – Dawson Street

Vodafone – 51-52 Henry Street.

02 – 5 GPO Buildings Henry Street

Clarkes Shoes – 43/44 – O’Connell Street.

11 Patrick Street

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/prime-office-and-retail-portfolio-for-118m-1.2200873