A round-up of other commercial property news in brief...
Green light for large hotel
Despite intense competition on room rates between Dublin hoteliers, there may still be scope for another substantial hotel in the city, judging from a recent decision by An Bord Pleanála.
Fanagan Funeral Directors and Robert Lyne have got permission for a seven-storey hotel with over 200 bedrooms off Aungier Street in Dublin 2.
The original plan envisaged a nine-storey building with 232 en suite bedrooms but the board ordered the removal of two floors.
The development will include two basement car-parks, one for use by the funeral directors for parking hearses and limousines.
An objection to the development was lodged by J Williams Ltd but this was overruled by the board and one of its inspectors.
Sofa shop for retail park
With furniture outlets taking a major hit in many retail parks as a result of the fall-off in new house sales, one company is bucking the trend by opening a new store at the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda. Cost Plus Sofas will now have 10 stores in Ireland, having started off only five years ago with a shop in Mullingar. It specialises in sofas and is about to launch a beds division.
Although Drogheda has a surfeit of retail parks – and shopping centres – the M1 Retail Park has grabbed most of the action because of its range of tenants. Woodie’s DIY anchors the park trading alongside Heatons, Smyths Toys, Mothercare, Power City, Lidl, Carphone Warehouse, Instyle Design and food outlet Graham O’Sullivan’s Sizzles. There is also a leisure centre. Savills and O’Brien Collins are joint letting agents.
Sales up at Banbridge park
While consumer spending on both sides of the Border has been in decline for some time, The Outlet retail park at Banbridge has just reported year-on-year sales growth of 21.5 per cent, largely because of a surge of shoppers from the Republic. A study showed that car numbers from the Republic were 83 per cent higher than a year previously. The typical shopper visiting the centre also spent an average of 13.5 per cent more in the same period.
The designer retail centre, located along the Dublin to Belfast road, opened its doors two years ago. Euan Forbes, centre manager at The Outlet, said the park was now getting more southern visitors than some of the North’s most popular tourist attractions. “There is a surge of Irish shoppers every weekend and bank holiday – and not just from Dublin. We are getting coach tours and organised trips from all over the country.”
Bord rejects Lidl's Navan plan
The issue of whether German discounters should be allowed to trade out of retail parks has surfaced again, this time in Navan where An Bord Pleanála has blocked a plan by Lidl to open a store in a newly completed park on the outskirts of the town.
The decision will be a major blow to the park which is struggling to assemble a line-up of tenants. With some planning authorities in favour of German discounters and fashion outlets in retail parks, and the appeals board failing to maintain a consistent line on these issues, developers are frustrated by the lack of clarity.
In the case of the Navan Retail Park, the board cited the retail planning guidelines set down by the Department of the Environment in 2005, cautioning against out-of-town retailing of goods other than bulky goods. The Navan town development plan also favoured retail development within the town centre.
An interesting projection by the board’s inspector in this case was that Lidl would have a turnover of €9 million by 2012 out of “an estimated catchment surplus expenditure capacity” of €29.8 million. What gobbledegook!
