RetailParks: One of two rival retail warehousing parks in Naas, Co Kildare, has landed one of the biggest draws in the business, writes Jack Fagan.
One of the two retail warehousing parks under construction in Naas, Co Kildare, has landed the British DIY giant B & Q - easily the biggest draw in the market. The deal will give a major boost to Newhall Retail Park which will be in direct competition with the nearby Globe Retail Park where all but one of the buildings have already been pre-let.
Both parks are being built off the busy M7 Naas dual-carriageway. The Globe park will run along a one-way relief road opening on to the M7 while the Newhall facility will be close to a new motorway junction which will take traffic to Naas and Newbridge.
Newhall is being developed by businessmen Jerry Conlan and Dermot O'Rourke who have also had significant success with the adjoining Millennium Park which will eventually have 2 million sq ft of offices. The Globe facility is being developed by a consortium which includes the Cavan construction company P Elliott and the Queally business family from Naas. Both parks have essentially being chasing many of the same tenants because of the fairly limited number of high profile traders involved.
Though the Conlon/O'Rourke team was also in negotiations with Homebase for the 6,000 sq m (64,583sq ft) anchor unit, the pair would obviously have had a strong bias in favour of B & Q even if that meant giving the company preferential rental terms. B & Q is by far the biggest attraction in any retail park and companies promoting these new shopping facilities around the country are generally willing to offer major concessions to attract the UK multiple.
Mark Reynolds, head of the retail warehousing division with Hamilton Osborne King, says that as a result of the B & Q letting in Newhall "there are at least five more lettings that will fall into place within the next few weeks".
The precise details of the B & Q deal have not been disclosed but Hamilton Osborne King is now quoting around €237 per sq m (€22 per sq ft) for eight other retail warehousing buildings to be built in the park withfloor areas ranging from 700-1,858sq m (7,535-20,000sq ft). The park will have a total warhousing area of 14,800 sq m and 677 car-parking spaces.
By comparison the Globe will have 14,000 sq m including an anchor store of 4,650 sq m to be occupied by Woodies. Other tenants will include Smyths Toys, Tilemarket and Furniture Depot.
B & Q is already trading out of four stores in the Republic at Liffey Valley, Belgard Retail Park in Tallaght, Airside Retail Park and Mahon Point in Cork. A further three outlets are due to open this year at the Arcadia Centre in Athlone, City East Retail Park in Limerick and now at Newhall Retail Park in Naas.
There is now a general acceptance by many leading retailers that an ever-increasing number of shoppers would prefer to use regional centres away from Dublin because of the sever traffic congestion around the capital and the high cost of car-parking in the city centre. Reynolds says that once B & Q opens in Naas it will mean that shoppers in Kildare and adjoining counties will have an alternative shopping venue to Dublin "which is complicated by ever growing congestion and parking difficulties".
The proposed Whitewater shopping centre in Newbridge is having significant success with its letting campaign because it will offer a shopping alternative to Dublin.
