Since the retail sector emerged from lockdown in May 2021 we have worked with 20 retailers who have invested in store refits cross our portfolio of 31 shopping centres and 19 retail parks. Shop local this Christmas!
Despite the uncertainty of COVID, it is great to see such optimism across our property management portfolio with over 40 new openings since we emerged from lockdown in May 2021. Shop Local this Christmas!
Our chairman and head of Consultancy Neil Bannon was invited to present to Dublin City Council this morning on how to tackle retail vacancy in Dublin City Centre, really positive session with great sharing of ideas & initiatives.
We’re delighted to see the new Regatta Great Outdoors store open in Nutgrove Shopping Centre, Dublin 14.
This was our first acquisition on behalf of our new client Regatta Ltd.
The super smart looking store, which will also incorporate Craghoppers and Dare 2b products, will serve the catchment well and the strong customer base who are embracing the outdoors even more since the arrival of Covid.
It was a great team effort to get the store open and ready for Black Friday and the run into Christmas, working with Brian Fox and the Regatta Team and Andrew Johnston.
We are continuing to look for more opportunities countrywide.
Covid-19 has flipped the performance of retail assets on their head. The previously-held view was that the prime to tertiary hierarchy was – city high street, major town centre, retail park, grocery retail and local necessity centres. However, in terms of demand and performance from the occupiers on the ground, this traditional hierarchy has now been reversed and is resulting in differentiation within a sector previously considered by many investors as a homogeneous entity.
Footfall is a very effective barometer to highlight this shift. High street has undoubtedly been the most negatively impacted retail market sector with Covid-19 decimating footfall and in-shop spend. Bannon estimates that there are almost 40 shops either vacant or available on Grafton Street and Henry/Mary Street out of a total of 162. Similarly the hospitality sector, including food and beverage, like non-essential retail, has been severely impacted during Covid-19. Despite a strong recovery city centre footfall counts for Q3 2021 were still 30 per cent below 2019 levels. According to the IPD Index year-on-year total returns within the sector are showing minus 12.5 per cent.
In stark contrast the necessity retail sector (being grocery, medical and service-related offers) as well the retail parks have proved to be exceptionally resilient through Covid and continue to perform very strongly. Car counts in many retail parks for Q2 and Q3 2021 exceeded 2019 levels with retailers reporting considerable turnover growth. Provincially convenience-focused shopping centres have remained resilient with limited vacancy as shoppers choose convenience and to shop locally. We are seeing footfall levels return by up to 90 per cent of their 2019 equivalents.
In the latter half of 2021 the ‘money’ began to follow the data into retail parks as is evidenced by the position taken by AM Alpha in Nutgove Retail Park (€66.3 million) and M&G Investments through the acquisition of the Parks Collection Portfolio (€74.5 million) and the agreed acquisition of Manor West (€56 million). We estimate retail parks transactions will represent more than two thirds of all retail transactions in 2021 and will be the only retail sector within the IPD showing positive total returns for 2021 (currently running at plus 6.3 per cent).
Supported largely by the threat of inflation, the resurgence in the retail grocery sector had already commenced pre-Covid in the UK and Europe, with long-let standalone grocery often trading at yield levels of between 4 and 5 per cent. This demand is beginning to emerge in the Irish market, with a shrinking gap between what the sector is trading at in the UK and the perceived value in Ireland. More recently we have seen a number of transactions which are at materially stronger yield levels than market expectation and these are due to sign before the end of the year.
Due to the structural limitations in scalability in the “grocery market” sector in Ireland (where most anchor stores are owner occupied) and the large delta which is developing between “pure grocery retail” and “necessity retail” (being service, health, medical and food-related occupiers) this sub-sector may come into more mainstream investment focus in 2022. The disconnect between the emerging grocery yields (5 per cent to 5.5 per cent) and those in the supporting “necessity retail” (9 to 10 per cent plus) seem irrationally high, especially as the necessity retail operator’s turnover is derived from the same customer base as their high-value grocery anchor neighbours. These centres along with retail parks serve to highlight opportunity within the sector where the negative narrative in the overall retail sector is keeping yields high despite resilient trading.
Rod Nowlan is an executive director at Bannon
Background
The Property Management team at Bannon currently manage over 70 commercial sites across Ireland. The portfolio is made up of Shopping Centres, Retail Parks, Business Parks and Office Parks.
In recent years there has been an unquestionable shift in weather patterns, and this is particularly noticeable in the colder winter months. One such example was the severe weather experienced in February 2018 when Storm Emma hit Ireland. During the course of the storm, we saw significant accumulations of snow across our sites and temperatures as low as –11.0°C.
In any given year we see c.100 million visits to Bannon managed sites across the country and maintaining safe access to these sites is a crucial part of our role as Property Managers. We manage this risk by appointing contractors to carry out gritting services during periods of cold weather and snow clearance when required.
A number of years ago we recognised the obvious synergies associated with managing our winter maintenance services on a portfolio basis. For that reason, we have split our portfolio into three distinct zones (see below) and we tender the contract every 3 years.
Zone 1 – Greater Dublin Area
Zone 2 – South & South East
Zone 3 – Midlands, West & North West
Tender
A sub-team of Property Managers were appointed to oversee the tendering of the Winter Maintenance contract for the portfolio. The following tender process occurred;
Phase 1 – Review of portfolio geography and creation of 3 distinct zones
Phase 2 – Preparation of Request for Tender (RFT) document
Phase 3 – Shortlisting of suitable contractors including a visit to contractors’ facilities
Phase 4 – Issue RFT to shortlisted parties
Phase 5 – Review & analysis of tenders
Phase 6 – Selection & contract award to winning tenderers
In total the RFT was issued to 10 contractors and we received 6 complete tender submissions. The submissions were assessed and ranked based on pre-set criteria. All but one tenderer submitted a proposal for all three zones. The sub-team assessed the proposals and made a recommendation to the directors of the department to appoint three separate contractors (one per zone). This recommendation was followed and the contracts were awarded to the following parties;
Zone 1 – Greater Dublin Area – SAP Landscapes
Zone 2 – South & South East – O’Brien Facilities
Zone 3 – Midlands, West & North West – Ken Fitzsimons Landscaping
Benefits
The benefits of carrying out a procurement process of this nature are far reaching, to include;
Overall, we have seen significant benefits in procuring our Winter Maintenance services on a portfolio wide basis. Our retail clients can enjoy consistency of service across all sites. With a proactive and data driven approach, we ensure that footfall does not drop and visitor health and safety is managed.
Neil Bannon is a leading expert on retail property in Dublin. In the upcoming December 2021 issue of the Dublin Economic Monitor, Neil provides his thoughts on the future of the Capital’s retail core.
In advance of the publication, the below video gives a snapshot of Neil’s views on Dublin’s retail sector and the outlook for the future.
Bannon are delighted to announce the opening of Costa Coffee at The Retail Park Liffey Valley in their new bespoke coffee pod.
Called The Crossings, Quintain’s first phase of development at the new urban centre in Adamstown will include 279 apartments and more than 91,000sq ft/8,500sq m of space to house two major supermarkets, 20 retail units and five restaurant outlets, along with a multi-storey car park.
Quintain is the housebuilding unit of US private equity giant Lone Star, which has accumulated a massive Irish landbank.
Construction of the apartments has a completion date of mid-2023. Planning permission for a second phase of 185 apartments has been granted and further phases are planned for submission in late 2021 and early 2022.
Quintain has a buyer lined up for the first tranche of its buy-to-rent scheme but Eddie Byrne, joint managing partner with the developer, says “it’s too early to say who it is”.
Getting this forward funding is key to the construction of such a developments, he says. “You really need to be able to have a buyer lined up in advance.” The Crossings will form an integral part of a new urban centre at Adamstown, which, over the next four to five years, will see the construction by Quintain of almost 1,000 residential units, mostly apartments/duplexes, with a “very small number of houses”.
On the retail side, Tesco has signed a lease for a 40,000sq ft/3,700sq m store, which is set to open in January 2023, with a second leading supermarket anchor store set to open a
Bannon has been retained as agents for the leasing of the retail units, which will serve an estimated potential shopping population of more than 100,000 people drawn from Adamstown, and the neighbouring suburbs of Lucan, Celbridge and Leixlip.t the same time.
To date, Quintain and its affiliates have built 1,000 homes in Adamstown, with over 85 per cent occupied by first-time buyers, launching developments such as Tandy’s Lane and Somerton.
Earlier this year it received planning permission to construct 235 new homes at Aderrig in Adamstown, to include 159 houses and 76 apartments. The scale of its total investment in the area is expected to be north of about €3 billion.
In June, Quintain completed and transferred ownership to South Dublin County Council of Tandy’s Lane Park, which will provide local residents with easy access to green open space. Another 27-acre green open space – Airlie Park – is set to open by the end of the year and will include a cricket pitch and Astroturf pitches, while a two-acre village green will provide a centre piece for The Crossings development.
Michael Hynes, joint managing partner with Quintain Ireland, said, “This investment will contribute to the social fabric of the area, and is supported by the handover of Tandy’s Lane Park to South Dublin County Council. We are very confident in the strong level of demand there is to live in the area, which will be boosted by the new amenities we are delivering.”
Quintain owns 220 acres in the Adamstown/Lucan area, where it plans to develop up to 5,000 new homes and 250,000sq ft of commercial space. The company’s broader land portfolio covers 460 acres of prime assets in Ireland at Adamstown, Clonburris, Portmarnock, and Cherrywood.
Adamstown was launched in 2005 as Ireland’s first new planned town since Shannon, Co Clare, in the 1960s.
The retail industry in Ireland employs c285,000 people. That is 12.5% of the working population. As leaders in the sector, we are very proud at Bannon to manage over 50 shopping destinations across the country. These destinations are home to over 1,100 businesses who in turn employ 10’s of thousands of local people. Supporting trade locally is supporting your local community. As we reset after COVID, make the right choice, shop local.
South William Street is getting a blast of colour with the new Oliver Dunne restaurant Pink, which opened its doors yesterday.
This deal started as we entered lockdown 2021 and it showed the belief that a seasoned and experienced operator has in Dublin City Centre trade.
It was a pleasure negotiating the deal on behalf of the landlord and wishing the team in Pink all the best of success for the future.
Another first for Blanchardstown Centre and part of a run of some exciting announcements for the scheme. Having the first Sky Store in Ireland will bring some interesting animation and events to the centre.
We are delighted to have advised Falcon AM and Blanchardstown Centre on this letting working with Eoin Feeney on the successful deal.
After a highly anticipated wait, coffee lovers in the Naas and surrounding areas finally get to see Starbucks open in Naas Retail Park. It is a state-of-the-art 2,500 sq. ft coffee pod with in-store seating as well as a customer collection drive-thru lane for customers who want to grab a coffee on the go. There are also three e-charging car park spaces located at the front of the store for the charging of electric vehicles.
Arguably the most famous coffee company in the world, Starbucks was founded in 1971 in Seattle and currently has more than 15,000 stores in over 50 countries. This will be Starbucks 105th store in Ireland and their third store in County Kildare.
The new opening of Starbucks is a wonderful addition to the strong line-up of retailers currently in Naas Retail Park. At present the retail park is home to Harvey Norman, B&Q, JYSK, Carpet Right, Choice, Currys PC World, Halfords and Right Price Tiles.
Paddy O’Connor from Sigma Retail Partners is the Asset Manager for Naas Retail Park, said “From the outset we have always seen the requirement for a coffee offering at the retail park, therefore we are more than delighted to have such a strong brand like Starbucks joining our tenants in the park. There has been a lot of excitement about Starbucks opening ever since construction begun and we are so pleased to finally see it materialise.”
Naas Retail Park is located off junction 10 of the N7 and is just ten minutes from Naas Town Centre. The retail park offers ample free customer car parking too. It also has a GoCargo van for hire on-site that can be booked by the hour or day via the GoCar app or website, to conveniently transport bulkier purchases home.
Penneys will bring its ‘Amazing Fashion at Amazing Prices’ to The Square Town Centre as the much-loved iconic Irish retailer announces that a new Penneys store will open at the centre, marking the continued expansion of the brand in Ireland. The new store will provide a huge boost to the local economy and create 300 new jobs for the community, with doors opening to customers next year.
The new store will be located on the ground floor of The Square Town Centre and will boast 43,000 sq ft of retail space which will feature Penneys’ famous affordable fashion favourites, including the latest seasonal trends along with everyday must-haves for everyone. The much-anticipated arrival of Penneys to The Square Town Centre will mark the retailer’s 37th store in Ireland; a significant milestone for the company that operates in over 395 locations across Europe and North America.
Damien O’Neill, Head of Sales, Penneys ROI, said; “We are really excited to confirm the opening of our new store in Tallaght next year. Penneys is iconic in Ireland; we have a strong presence in Dublin and across Ireland, and it’s really important to us when opening any new store, that we do so in the right location. We couldn’t wish for a better location for our next store in our home market than in The Square Town Centre. In the coming months, our teams will be working hard to bring Penneys’ unique in-store design and customer experience offering to life and we are looking forward to opening our doors to customers later next year.”
Jack Martin, Head of Retail for The Square Town Centre, said; “We are absolutely delighted with this announcement as it has been long overdue for Tallaght. Penneys is a fantastic retailer that will add a great offering to the Centre. For many years, the people of Tallaght have been very vocal in their desire to have Penneys in The Square and I have no doubt they will celebrate this news with us and make this opening a very successful and memorable one. This will bring jobs and prosperity to Tallaght and we are very excited to be partnering with such a great brand.”
Freda O’Donnell, The Square Town Centre’s asset manager from Sigma Retail Partners, said; “We are so pleased to announce that Penneys will be opening in The Square; a huge refit of the space is underway, and we are very excited with Penneys’ plans for their new store. Since we were appointed asset managers of the Square Town Centre in 2018, securing Penneys as a tenant has been a priority for Sigma Retail Partners and we are thrilled that they are joining our tenant line-up. They will no doubt be very successful, and we wish them all the best for now and the many years to come.”
Cushman and Wakefield and Bannon are joint letting agents for the owners of The Square while Penneys were advised by Savills.
The Square Town Centre was acquired by US private equity giant Oaktree Capital in 2018 and it is asset managed by Sigma Retail Partners. It currently has 160 retail units and more than 2,400 car spaces. The Square Town Centre consists of 577,500 sq. ft located on a site of 27 acres. Hugely popular with shoppers, the centre attracts footfall of over 15 million people each year.
Maxi Zoo will open their first ever store in Sligo on 9th September at Sligo Retail Park. Their new store is over 7,000 sq. ft and stocks an extensive range of pet products. This store is Maxi Zoo’s 21st store in Ireland and it will create 15 new jobs.
As one of Ireland’s largest pet retailer with 21 stores in the Republic of Ireland, Maxi Zoo opened its first store in Cor
k in 2006 and currently employs over 170 staff. It is part of the Fressnapf Group with over 1,700 stores across Europe, with more than 8,000 products in their extensive range and offers personal consultations for pet owners.
Maxi Zoo is celebrating the opening of their new store with a ‘Spend and Save Incentive’ from 9th – 12th September, with fun and exciting in-store and outdoor activities including a photo booth, in-store DJ, balloon modeller, magician and hourly raffle prizes planned for Saturday 11th September.
“This is a really exciting new store opening for Maxi Zoo as our first step to realising our ambition to extend our offering, first-class customer service and vast product range to pet owners in the West of Ireland,” said Enrico De Luca, Country Manager for Maxi Zoo Ireland. “This marks a new chapter for the business and signals our strategy for continued growth. Over the last 18 months, we have seen our business and sales boosted dramatically with more new pet owners and existing pet owners having a greater desire and disposable income to treat their pets. It’s been wonderful to see the bond that owners have with their pets become even stronger throughout the challenges and uncertainty we’ve faced. Choosing the dynamic region of Sligo in the heart of the North West was a natural first choice of location. Our new store in Sligo will be closely followed with another large store opening in the South West with further plans for expanding Maxi Zoo’s retail network over the coming 12 months.”
Maxi Zoo Sligo store manager Rory Farrell added: “We are so excited to open the doors and to welcome pet owners and their pets in our store. We are always on hand to offer advice on food, as well as coat and harness fitting and a free weight check for your dog. We really do have everything a pet parent might need – after all, happier pets, happier people.”
Paddy O’Connor from Sigma Retail Partners is the Asset Manager for Sligo Retail Park. He said “Maxi Zoo is a very well-known and strong brand in Ireland and Europe and we are delighted that they have chosen Sligo Retail Park as their first store location in Sligo. Their new store’s fit-out looks fantastic and we are confident that pet owners and animal lovers will enjoy their presence immensely. We look forward to them performing very well in the retail park.”
Sligo Retail Park is the primary retail park destination in the North West catchment area with stores catering to a wide variety of customers and accommodates diverse retail use. It has a total of 14 retailers that include JYSK, Currys PC World, Smyths Toys, Homebase, Castle Davitt, Right Price Tiles, Pet Stop Discount, Homestore & More, EZ Living, McDonalds, Costa and KFC, with 1,000 free car parking spaces.
Krispy Kreme has chosen Swords Pavilions shopping centre in North County Dublin for the site of its second store in Ireland.
The new Swords shop is due to open this winter and will be located in the former KFC unit, beside Elverys Sports and Penneys in the shopping centre.
Krispy Kreme opened its first store in Ireland – in Dublin’s Blanachardstown – in 2018.
Hammerson and Irish Life are joint owners of the Swords Pavilions shopping centre.
With over 100 retail, dining and entertainment brands at Swords Pavilions, Krispy Kreme joins The Gift Shed, a new pop-up concept by the Kilkenny Group, fashion brand Catch and music store Golden Discs as recent openings in the shopping centre.
Ciara Connolly, Head of Leasing, Ireland at Hammerson, said it was a real vote of confidence in Swords Pavilions that a household name such as Krispy Kreme has chosen to join the centre in the early stages of its Irish expansion.
Retail is back and it’s here to stay, says Christine Dolan of Quayside Shopping centre in Sligo Town.
The centre manager believes that the majority of Irish consumers prefer the social experience of a trip to the shops over the convenience of e-tail.
She told the All-Ireland Business Times that Quayside is busier than ever.
“I think people have missed coming into the shops”, she said. “It’s a totally different experience to shopping online.”
“People love the social aspect of a day out shopping and I think most people are sick of the virtual experiences – there are a lot of people who have been quite lonely through the pandemic and you can’t beat meeting up with friends for a lunch date while having a browse through the shops.”
“There’s a great buzz around at the moment and people are starting to mix again and enjoy themselves.”
A 2020 report by Deloitte found that retail is Ireland’s largest industry and the largest private sector employer, employing almost 300,000 workers – with three in four of those employed based outside of Dublin.
Quayside Shopping Centre opened its doors in 2005 as the largest shopping centre in the northwest of Ireland.
With 130,000 feet of floor space the centre boasts 43 retailers including TK Maxx, Lifestyle Sports and Next.
Quayside lost two retailers over the pandemic, one of them was a Carphone Warehouse store which was a casualty of the Group’s decision to close 80 stores in Ireland last year.
Christine revealed that units have since been filled by two new tenants with more set to come on board.
While Christine admits that competing against online retailers will be a tough challenge in the years to come, she is not worried about the long term future of her industry.
“What we’ve proven here time and time again is that we are resilient.”
“We’ve been through a recession and we’ve come out stronger on the other end so I have no doubt that we will get back to where we were pre-pandemic.”
“In fact, I think we’ll be in a better place.”
According to the Central Statistics Office’s Retail Sales Index retail sales increased by 3.3% in June this year compared to May on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an annual basis, retail volumes were 10.6 per cent higher than in June last year.
Interestingly the retail sales figure for June this year was 13.4% higher when compared to two years earlier, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Quayside Shopping Centre recently landed its third Business All-Star Accreditation in recognition of its contribution to retail in Ireland.
Reacting to the news, Christine said: “I am delighted to be part of an ambitious All-Star Business. To be accredited for the third year in a row is a huge honour and I see it as recognition of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.”
Quayside’s focus over the next few months is to promote the “shopping centre experience” and Christine revealed that the centre will be introducing an initiative to help local craftspeople and creators.
She said: “We have plans to relaunch our very successful Christmas markets and hope to do this a little bit early this year. The markets provide a wonderful opportunity for local traders who may have been out of work the last while and want the chance to set up a pop up shop or trading stall.”
“We really want to celebrate with our customers and give something back to the local community this year.”
To learn more about Quayside Shopping Centre Sligo, visit their All-Star showcase page here.
Another fantastic addition to South William St with Mercado 52 opening it’s doors to the public in the past few weeks. This unique multi-concept bar and restaurant is an exciting new venue for Dublin City from the team behind Juanito’s on Drury St. It was a pleasure to work with Cian Hamill and Aviva on this letting and we look forward to working with the guys again in the near future.
Give Bannon a call on 01-6477900 to discuss other similar properties currently available or if you have a property you might be interested in bringing to the market.
Thurles Shopping Centre has just opened a new store The Gourmet Butcher in the last two weeks. This is their second store with the first one in Clonmel, Tipperary. The new store has a lovely, modern-looking fitout. The Gourmet Butcher are speciality Artisan butchers who are locally-owned and independently run, supplying the highest quality locally sourced meat and dry aged beef.
The owner Kevin Walsh, a Tipperary businessman, decided to expand his operations despite the uncertainty caused by the ongoing pandemic and up to eight jobs have been created in the newly opened store. He said “Thurles Shopping Centre is a location we have been looking at on and off for the last two years. Our business model is a proven model and we won Best Retailer in Tipperary with the Chamber Business Awards two years ago. We think we’ll be a really good fit for the centre – there’s a massive grocery footfall there. We just think that our set-up, which is a traditional butcher with a modern twist, will go really well in that area.”
Sigma Retail Partners, the asset management company for Thurles Shopping Centre, acquired the centre in July 2015 and has put in place an active asset management plan since its acquisition. Emma Leonard from Sigma Retail Partners is the asset manager for Thurles Shopping Centre. She said “We warmly welcome The Gourmet Butcher to the shopping centre and believe they will bring a fresh offer to the centre’s customers. The Gourmet Butcher has received an overwhelming response in their first few weeks of trading and we are confident that they will do very well in the centre. I wish them all the best in their new store.”
Thurles Shopping Centre is walking distance from Thurles Town Centre and has a floor area of 110,000 sq ft. It has a footfall of approximately 55,000 per week and houses 600 car park spaces. Anchored by Dunnes Stores, it has 28 units in total with retailers including Boots, Vodafone, Holland & Barrett and Carraig Donn.
Dungarvan Shopping Centre is excited to announce that it has just added Eir to its established list of retail stores.
This latest store in Dungarvan Shopping Centre has further increased the wide variety of shops already trading in the shopping centre. The brand Eir is very well-known in Ireland and it is one of the principal providers of fixed-line and mobile telecommunications services, serving approximately two million customers. The Eir group provides a comprehensive range of advanced voice, data, broadband and TV services to the residential, small business, enterprise and government markets.
Paddy O’Connor from Sigma Retail Partners is the Asset Manager for Dungarvan Shopping Centre. He said “We are fortunate that one of the leading brands of telecommunications services in Ireland has opened a new store in Dungarvan Shopping Centre. We have always believed in the importance of offering a wide range of retailers in all our shopping centres, for our customers and the local community, and the new Eir store complements very well to the tenant mix. Their new fit-out looks great and we wish them the best of luck in the centre.”
Anchored by Dunnes Stores, Dungarvan Shopping Centre has a total of 34 retailers including Eason, Carraig Donn, Game Stop and Lloyds Pharmacy. Dungarvan Shopping Centre is located in the centre of Dungarvan town centre and has a large multi-storey car park available to its customers.
Maxi Zoo has confirmed that it will open a new store in Sligo Retail Park in September this year. Fit-out works have already begun, and this will be their first store in Sligo.
The store will be over 7,000 sq. ft and much to the delight of pet lovers in the local community and the surrounding catchment areas, it will stock their extensive range of pet products.
Maxi Zoo is Ireland’s largest pet retailer with 20 stores in the Republic of Ireland, and opened its first store in Ballincollig, Cork in 2006 and the company currently employs over 170 staff. It supports numerous local animal welfare charities and is Ireland’s largest pet retailer and part of the Fressnapf Group, with over 1,650 stores across Europe with more than 8,000 products in their range.
Paddy O’Connor, Asset Manager from Sigma Retail Partners, said “Maxi Zoo is a very strong brand in Ireland and Europe and we are delighted that they will be joining the tenant line-up in Sligo Retail Park. Maxi Zoo also has stores in two of our retail parks that we manage, Naas and Waterford Retail Parks, and their business continues to perform strongly despite the current challenging times. We are confident they will continue their success in the new Sligo store and warmly welcome them into the retail park and wish them all the best.”
Darren Spoonley from Maxi Zoo said “Maxi Zoo Ireland are looking forward to opening our first store in Sligo as part of our ongoing expansion plan, bringing our store network to 21. We are excited to bring our huge range of pet products to new customers. Our highly trained teams will be on hand to advise on all your pet needs and highlight our fantastic prices and offers.”
Sligo Retail Park is the primary retail park destination in the North West catchment area with stores catering to a wide variety of customers and accommodates diverse retail use. It has a total of 14 retailers that include JYSK, Currys PC World, Smyths Toys, Homebase, Castle Davitt, Right Price Tiles, Pet Stop Discount, Homestore & More, EZ Living, McDonalds, Costa and KFC, with 1,000 free car parking spaces.
Bannon would like to extend a big thank you to Ross Barron (Director – Resure Corporate Brokers) and Dr. Paul Cummins (Managing Director – SeaChange) for their recent presentation on Liability Insurance / Health & Safety. It was also great to see such a strong attendance from the on site teams across our portfolio. We all gained some very valuable insights on subjects which play a huge part in our industry.
International real estate firm Hines has formally acquired the second phase of Chatham & King, a new high-profile mixed-use scheme next to the Gaiety Theatre on South King Street in Dublin city centre.
Hines’s acquisition of the 3,950sq m (42,500sq ft) portfolio marks the culmination of the €165 million deal it agreed with US private equity giant Lone Star for the wider Chatham & King development in 2018. In acquiring the scheme, Hines fended off three rival bids. Two of the competing offers came from German funds, while the third bid came from the billionaire founder of the Zara fashion chain, Amancio Ortega.
In securing ownership of the development, Hines gained immediate control of a mixed-use building with retail units comprising 3,112sq m (33,500sq ft) occupied by Zara, H&M and Warehouse, along with 2,879sq m (31,000sq ft) of overhead office space occupied by data analytics management firm Qualtrics as its European headquarters.
The second phase, which has now been completed by Lone Star, comprises six residential units, five retail units totalling 1,486sq m (16,000sq ft) and 2,461sq m (26,500sq ft) of office space which will be occupied by Qualtrics. The €40 million cost of developing the new building on Chatham Street and Clarendon Row was included as part of the €165 million deal agreed on behalf of Hines European Core Fund (HECF) in 2018.
Hines says that negotiations are at an advanced stage on each of the five new retail units, which range in size from 46sq m (495sq ft) to 1,178sq m (12,680sq ft). The incoming tenants will sit alongside the existing tenants, which include Zara, H&M and Apple-reseller CompuB, which recently signed a new lease for a 315sq m (3,400sq ft) retail unit on South King Street.
The Chatham & King scheme has a prime location next to Grafton Street and St Stephen’s Green, and sits within close proximity to the Westbury Hotel and the new Dublin headquarters of the European Parliament, which is scheduled for completion in November 2023.
Simone Pozzato, managing director and deputy HECF fund manager at Hines, said: “The acquisition of phase two of Chatham & King completes the final element of this portfolio and marks the delivery of an LEED-accredited asset in the Dublin office and retail sector at an opportune time. The property is an excellent fit for HECF given its central location in Dublin, a city which continues to show strong economic growth.
“We are already encouraged by the promising engagements to date from some very exciting retail brands who would be ideally suited to this prestigious shopping district. We hope to have further announcements in this regard in the near future.”
Peter Lynn, director with Hines Ireland, added: “We are delighted to make this timely announcement as Dublin city centre continues to reopen and as Chatham Street itself has recently undergone a significant transformation with Dublin City Council’s pedestrianisation programme. Chatham & King is a high-quality addition to this historic street and our new retail spaces will represent a significant enhancement to the city’s most fashionable shopping district. We are also equally excited to be working with Qualtrics as our lead office occupier as they continue on their growth story.”
Irish consumer sentiment is at a two-year high following a modest 1.6% monthly increase in June. This increase brings the index back in line with the 25-year average of the series suggesting sentiment has been normalised. This is further supported by the fact that June marks the fifth successive monthly increase in the index, the first time that has happened since the beginning of 2007. These results suggest that Irish consumers are becoming less concerned about their current circumstances and less fearful about the future which bodes very well the retail sector. Furthermore, trends over the past decade show consumer sentiment as a very accurate leading indicator of retail sales.
There is an air of positivity coming from our shopping centre & retail park management teams across the country. It has been great to see the rebound in footfall since full reopening of our portfolio on the 17th of May last. The first three weeks since reopening have seen weekly footfall jump back to 86% of the levels seen in 2019. What’s much more significant is the number of retailers reporting May 2021 sales information (a total of 14 days) being ahead of May 2019 (31 days). There is no question that retailers need to see a sustained period of brisk trade but the data so far is pointing in the right direction.
With online shopping having come into its own following the unwelcome arrival of Covid-19, the sale by New York-headquartered Marathon Asset Management of three of Ireland’s best-known retail parks is set to test the post-pandemic appetite of investors for traditional bricks-and-mortar retail.
The Parks Collection is being offered to the market individually or as one lot by joint agents Cushman & Wakefield and Savills at a guide price of €78 million. The portfolio comprises Belgard Retail Park in Tallaght, Dublin 24, the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda, Co Louth, and Poppyfield Retail Park in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
While the sale of the entire offers the prospective purchaser the opportunity to secure a collection of strongly-performing retail parks and an attractive net initial yield of 8.43 per cent, the portfolio’s assets are expected to see interest on an individual basis also.
Belgard Retail Park, for its part, is regarded as one of the foremost retail parks in the capital. Located on the Belgard Road in Tallaght and 11km from Dublin city centre, the scheme comes for sale fully-occupied and anchored by B&Q, the largest home improvement and garden centre retailer in the UK and Ireland. Other occupiers include Homestore & More, Dealz, Carpet Right, Halfords, Right Style Furniture, Burger King and Starbucks.
While the scheme currently extends to 12,728sq m (137,000sq ft) with 482 car parking spaces, it has planning permission for an additional retail warehouse unit of 2,404sq m (25,877 sq ft) over two levels with 1,409 sq m (15,166 sq ft) of ground-floor space and 995sq m (10,710sq ft) of retail warehouse/storage space at mezzanine level.
The total current rent is about €3.13 million per annum with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 7.3 years. B&Q contributes around 67 per cent of the income on a lease until 2028 with an upward-only rent review clause.
The M1 Retail Park is located 3km west of Drogheda town centre and just off the M1 motorway connecting Dublin and Belfast. It comprises a mix of retail, office and leisure accommodation extending to a total of 24,805sq m (267,000sq ft), along with 600 car-parking spaces. The majority of the development is taken up by retail and leisure (89 per cent) and is anchored by Woodie’s DIY who occupy 4,885sq m (52,585sq ft). The park’s other tenants include Smyths Toys, Sports Direct /Brand Max, Dealz, Equipet and EZ Living amongst others.
The total current rent is €2.44 million per annum with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 8.4 years. Woodies (with lease guarantees from Grafton Group plc) contributes around 40 per cent of the income on a lease until September 2030 with upward-only rent reviews.
The scheme also includes Mellview House, a four-storey building comprising 25,048sq ft of office space, a 30,483sq ft gym at ground floor, basement and mezzanine levels operated by Gym Plus and a number of other smaller retail units. Another building known as the Pavilion is home to Costa Coffee and TC Matthews with a recent new letting to Lanu Medi Spa.
An additional site adjacent to M1 Retail Park also forms part of the Parks Collection sale. The land extends to 27 acres and comprises three adjoining plots with proposed zoning under the Draft Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027 for three uses, namely ‘A2 New Residential’, ‘ C1 Mixed Use’ and ‘ B4 District Centre’.
99% occupied
Poppyfield Retail Park is located 2.5km from Clonmel town centre at the junction of the Cahir Road and the N24. Developed in 2004, the scheme extends to 12,821sq m (138,000sq ft) and comprises a mix of 14 retail warehousing units, a neighbourhood centre and 393 car-parking spaces. The park is 99 per cent occupied and anchored by Woodie’s DIY (with a lease guarantee from Grafton Group plc) and SuperValu. Other high-profile tenants include Harry Corry, Maxi Zoo, EZ Living, World of Wonder and DID Electrical. The neighbourhood centre is occupied by Costa Coffee, Sam McCauley, along with a hair and beauty studio and fish-and-chips operator. KFC also have a drive-through at the entrance to the park which does not form part of the sale.
The total current rental income is €1.43 million per annum and the weighted average unexpired lease term is seven years. Woodie’s and SuperValu contribute around 52 per cent of the income, and have seven and eight years remaining on their respective leases.
Marathon Asset Management acquired the M1 and Poppyfield parks originally as part of a larger portfolio in 2014, which also included The Park, Carrickmines; Lakepoint Retail Park, Mullingar; and the Four Lakes Retail Park in Carlow. Belgard Retail Park was acquired separately.
Marathon has undertaken significant asset management and phased disposal of these assets since then. The latest sale from its Irish retail portfolio was completed only this week and saw a private high net worth investor paying close to €7 million to secure ownership of Lakepoint Retail Park in Mullingar.
The scheme, which is anchored by Woodie’s DIY, is generating total rent of €516,000 per annum giving the purchaser an initial return of just under 7 per cent. The deal was brokered on Marathon’s behalf by Rod Nowlan of Bannon while Declan Bagnall of Bagnall Doyle McMahon represented the purchaser.
One of the recommendations in our recent report on City Centre retail for Dublin City Council was to improve connectivity between the Retail Core and the Office and Cultural hubs within the City making it easier for City workers and tourists to connect to the shopping areas. Delighted to see the works taking place on Merrion Row and Baggot St which will both improve the pedestrian experience and facilitate on street dining.
Dublin Town reporting footfall in the City Centre at 87% of 2019 levels last Saturday, given the lack of Tourists that’s a very encouraging recovery. It will be interesting to see which retailers benefit most from the return of the consumer.
Retail Giants Poised to Land in Dublin. Neil Bannon commented that “retailers should fill the street by the first half of 2022. We will see Grafton Street pivot away from a UK-dominated high street mix to a more international mix”. Full article available in The Sunday Times.
In a normal year we welcome in excess of 100 million people into Bannon managed shopping centres. As is evident from the chart below the last 12 months have been very different. That said we remain hopeful that the end is now in sight and we look forward to seeing the portfolio back to full capacity in the near future.
After the pandemic: in Dublin’s bare city. Our streets must be reimagined to entice visitors rather than cater to workers. Bannon advises on this in The Sunday Times.
We are delighted to share our latest Consultancy Retail Pulse for 1st March 2021. Should you wish to discuss any retail market or property queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The dramatic improvement in the balance sheets of Irish Consumers in the last decade is astounding, savings are up 35% and debt is down 33%, a €70bn nett turnaround. The potential for a positive impact on the retail sector post reopening is clear, the question is where will the money be spent. We are modelling the potential impact on the different retail sub-sectors and expect to see a very different outturn to the 2013 recovery.
With the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines now under way, the owners of Blanchardstown Centre are gearing up for the return of significant numbers of shoppers to its stores, with three additions to the west Dublin outlet’s food and beverage line-up.
Having played host in 2018 to US donut giant Krispy Kreme’s most-successful opening globally, Blanchardstown has added boutique coffee house The Art of Coffee and specialist donut brand Off Beat to its offering. They will be joined later this year by gourmet burger chain Bunsen.
The Art of Coffee’s unit is its first in a shopping centre and is located at the red mall entrance beside BT2. The new 65sq m (700sq ft) store was added as part of the same development that saw German supermarket chain Aldi open a new 2,200sq m (23,680sq ft) store last December. Off Beat’s new store is located near Dunnes Stores in the green mall.
Bunsen’s new restaurant will be located immediately next door to Krispy Kreme. Extending to 190sq m (2,045sq ft), it will represent the popular chain’s first foray into a shopping centre since its establishment in 2013.
Commenting on the decision of the three brands to locate at Blanchardstown Centre, Sharon Walsh, leasing director at Falcon AM, said: “All three brands are best in class and Irish-owned. We are delighted that when they looked at growing their businesses in these challenging times, Blanchardstown was their destination of choice. These new additions will appeal to a broad demographic and enhance and compliment the already-wide food and beverage offering at Ireland’s largest shopping and leisure location.”
BNP Paribas and Bannon are the joint leasing agents at Blanchardstown Centre.
Are you interested in the history of some of Dublin’s past and present retailers?
Well, the Central Library are hosting a new series by Dublin City Council Historian in Residence Dr Mary Muldowney which takes a look at retail streets like Henry Street and how they have changed over the last 100 years or so. The series features Dublin favourites Arnotts, Clerys, Roches Stores and other major retailers that have disappeared; as well as featuring the small businesses.
In her opening talk on 8 February, Mary introduced us to the history of retail in Dublin City Centre.
The next talk, Shopping in Dublin City Centre 1790-1990. Henry Street and the women who worked there is on 8 March at 7pm.
This lecture will take place on Zoom and, in honour of International Women’s Day on 8th March, it will focus on the women who ran and worked in the many retail businesses on Henry Street.
Despite the challenges facing the north-east this year due to impending Brexit and stricter lockdowns than their counterparts on either side of the border, it’s great to have some positive news and see Harry Corry open their latest store in Cavan Retail Park. Harry Corry are an international retailer specialising in home furnishings and this letting brings the park to full occupancy, further re-affirming the resilience of the retail park market.
It’s difficult to imagine things getting any worse for the retail sector than they did in 2020. But the chief driving force behind the decline of investor interest began long before Covid-19 arrived. There has been growing concern in relation to the impact of online retail and changing consumer trends on the long-term supply-demand dynamic for the bricks-and-mortar format. Much of this has been imported from the US where retail supply is five times that of Ireland, and the UK where it is 25 per cent higher and undergoing a sustainability crisis.
While the relative performances of these markets may already have been up for debate, the impact of Covid has ended the discussion. By mid-March the sector became virtually un-investable due to Covid-related uncertainties attaching to rental payments being added to those longer-term occupational concerns. The consequence of this is manifest in year-end investment turnover figures where retail will represent a record low 2.5 per cent of an anticipated total investment market turnover of € 3 billion. This from a sector that represented 24 per cent of investment turnover for the last decade (to 2019), but descending rapidly from a high of 53 per cent in 2016 to a previous record low in 2019 of 9 per cent.
Unsurprisingly for 2020 High Street retail has been worst affected with Grafton Street top of the list experiencing a 66 per cent reduction in footfall for March to October. While the street’s footfall figures had been holding steady at 25 million for the last two years, the 2020 outcome will be closer to 13 million.
No surprise then that almost a quarter of the units on the street are effectively available. Henry Street performed a little better as did some of the other city’s high streets, but the tone is similar. Next in line were the “comparison led” shopping centres which, as a general rule, saw footfall collapse during the first lockdown and rent collections plummet below 35 per cent. However, they did improve quickly and were less affected by the second lockdown. The burden of the service charge costs of running these mall-based schemes was exposed during these periods and will be a key factor in assessing the risk of ownership of these asset types in the future.
The resilience of the grocery sector shone through. No surprise therefore that 65 per cent of the limited 2020 retail investment transactions were grocery deals. Similarly, smaller grocery-led schemes performed better and recovered quicker than major town centres but weaker covenant strength and holding costs affected net rental collections.
Low holding costs
The retail sector’s star performers, however, have been the retail parks. Indeed, in the case of the 15 retail parks under Bannon management (between nationwide lockdowns) car throughput actually increased year on year for the period with rent collection rates approaching 100 per cent and impressive turnover increases. Even where tenants were adversely affected, low holding costs relative to shopping centres maximised the net income return to landlords.
If this crisis has accelerated the sector’s movement to the “retail endgame”, then retail parks and their occupiers have risen to the challenge. In this regard we envisage this asset type, along with grocery, to be the most liquid and popular sector for the year ahead.
Outside of this and following both Brexit and an anticipated mid-January lockdown we foresee a post-vaccine period of rebuilding balance sheets and filling occupational voids. While this period could take 12 to 24 months, there is little doubt that the rebasing of the sector generally will attract new investors wishing to get ahead of the recovery. This will probably manifest as loan trades first with a focus on fundamentally-sustainable schemes and high streets at attractive yields with occupiers who have embraced the omnichannel experience.
More sophisticated investors will recognise the buying opportunity that Covid-19 presents, especially if valuers fail to acknowledge the vast differences in performance across the sector.
Rod Nowlan is investment director at Bannon
Gateway Shopping Park will soon have an exciting and state of the art gym opening. The Warehouse Gym has just signed a lease with the shopping park and is due to open in the second quarter of 2021. It will be one of the biggest gyms in the west of Ireland at 18,000 sq. ft and it will be their third location in Galway.
The Warehouse Gym was founded in County Galway in 2013 and has exploded in popularity due to its large selection of strength equipment, free weights, machines and cardio equipment. As their community grew, they expanded out of the city centre to Oranmore in the outskirts of Galway, where they continue to serve their loyal members. The new gym in Gateway Shopping Park will host Galway’s largest selection of free weights, squat racks, cardio equipment and resistance machines. Services offered include personal training, InBody scans, virtual coaching software and nutritional consultations which are all bookable through a mobile application.
Michael Shortall, the General Manager of The Warehouse Gym, said “As a local business, The Warehouse Gym is super excited to be opening the largest gym in the west of Ireland right here in the heart of Galway. Gateway Shopping Park is the perfect location for serving the health and fitness needs of the Knocknacarra and surrounding communities. It’s our mission to fulfil that need by providing a welcoming, clean and modern health club for all ages and interests.”
Sigma Retail Partners are the asset management company for Gateway Shopping Park. Paddy O’Connor, Asset Manager for the park, said: “Finding the right fitness offering for our park was a key strategy for us. We wanted to ensure that we selected the right gym operator to provide the local community and the surrounding areas with a state of the art and well-run fitness centre. We are so pleased that a well-established gym in Galway will be joining our newly extended shopping park. The Warehouse Gym will be the eighth new addition to the Phase 2 extension and we look forward to welcoming them into our shopping park next year.”
The new shopping park extension is the first provision of retail space outside of Dublin since 2008 and the first in Galway in more than two decades. The development provided over 150 jobs during construction phase and is expected to create over 300 jobs in Knocknacarra and Galway when fully occupied. It will have open-use retail units and food and beverage units.
Gateway Shopping Park already has an impressive line-up of retailers including Dunnes Stores, B&Q, New Look, Next and McSharry Pharmacy, with new tenants recently opened in the Phase 2 extension, Harvey Norman, Boots, Carraig Donn, Petstop and Sonas Childcare. With the inclusion of The Warehouse Gym, the Phase 2 extension will be over 90% let.
Bannon are delighted to welcome Bag City to Marshes Shopping Centre, Dundalk in the lead up to Christmas despite a turbulent 2020. Jennifer Mulholland, Divisional Director, comments that the addition of Bag City to the Tenant mix at Marshes is another positive testament for the scheme which continues to be the North East’s most dominant retail scheme.
Great to welcome Name It to The Square Town Centre, Tallaght! Fantastic news to start off the Christmas season.
As we exit level 5 restrictions, there is cause for double celebrations yesterday in Swords Pavilions Shopping Centre with the opening of 2 new stores. Great to see both Golden Discs & Catch open their doors in the lead up to Christmas.
We are delighted to be part of the team to deliver the new Aldi store in Blanchardstown. This will be a fantastic addition to the scheme which continues to grow and improve with new tenants and mall improvements.
Great to see local menswear brand Walker & Hunt going from strength to strength and gradually making the shift from online to bricks and mortar, taking space in Athlone Town Centre for the second year in a row, opening soon.
In general the footfall across our portfolio is remarkably consistent every year, however 2020 is very different. We remain hopeful that people will shop with purpose when the restrictions are eased at the start of December.
Businesses across the country need a strong finish to the year and we can all help to make it happen.
Bannon are delighted to welcome Eden Medical Clinic to MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre, Kilkenny. Great to be involved in securing new store openings despite current level 5 restrictions.
Harvey Norman has just opened their brand new 45,000 sq. ft store in Sligo Retail Park on Thursday, 5th November. It is Harvey Norman’s first store in County Sligo and the 16th store in Ireland. The store is opening under the Government guidelines on a restricted basis due to level 5 lockdown with only essential goods and click and collect available.
It is also the fifth Harvey Norman store in Sigma Retail Partners’ portfolio, with other Harvey Norman stores in Naas Retail Park, Drogheda Retail Park, Waterford Retail Park and Gateway Shopping Park.
With over 290 stores worldwide and currently 16 in the Republic of Ireland, Harvey Norman is the leading retailer of furniture, bedding, computer and electrical goods. The first Harvey Norman store opened in Swords in Dublin in August 2003. Its stores have over 750,000 square feet of retail space and boast a massive range of goods. Harvey Norman has a worldwide presence with stores in eight countries across the globe, including Singapore, Malaysia, Slovenia, New Zealand, Croatia and of course Ireland.
Paddy O’Connor, Asset Manager from Sigma Retail Partners, said “We are very pleased that one of the biggest and most well-known global retailers in household and electrical goods has joined Sligo Retail Park. It is the completion of a lengthy asset management strategy with a focus to bring Harvey Norman to Sligo and the wider North West catchment. We are very confident that Harvey Norman will perform extremely well in Sligo and they are a great addition to our other fantastic retail partners in Sligo Retail Park.”
Sligo Retail Park is the primary retail park destination in the North West catchment area with stores catering to a wide variety of customers and accommodates diverse retail use. It has a total of 14 retailers that include JYSK, Currys PC World, Smyths Toys, Homebase, Castle Davitt, Right Price Tiles, Homestore & More, EZ Living, McDonalds, Costa and KFC, with 1,000 free car parking spaces.
The inconsistent and illogical nature of the imposition of essential goods only sales in retail across the country is causing serious damage to the sector.
We have reports from across the portfolio of local Jewellers who are operating on a Click & Collect basis being told to pull their shutter, a news agency being advised that can sell cigarettes and lotto tickets but not books or magazines, a florist being told to close who traded during the last (and more severe) lockdown.
The government needs to think about where this spend will go. A customer told they cannot buy a magazine or a book in a shop that is already open is one click away from redirecting spend from a small local business to Jeff Bezos
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