Commercial Property Editor Another provincial shopping centre is to have a change of ownership. Monaghan Shopping Centre has been acquired by Melcorpo Commercial Properties, a company controlled by brothers Paul, Nick and Peter Furlong, which also owns Drogheda Town Centre, Kilkenny High Street Mall and Castle Street Shopping Centre in Bray, Co Wicklow.
Melcorpo outbid several other investment groups for the almost 20-year-old Monaghan centre, paying €11.85 million – well ahead of the €10.1 million guide price set by agents DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.
The sale was carried out on behalf of receivers appointed by the Bank of Ireland. The bank has also sold retail parks in Sligo, Letterkenny and Tullamore held by the same group of investors for marginally over the €83 million guide.
The recently refurbished Monaghan centre is producing a rental income of €1,050,000, which will give the new owners a net return of 8.53 per cent, after allowing for standard purchasers’ costs of 4.46 per cent.
Melcorpo is expected to create a “coffee pod” in the centre of the complex in line with many other shopping centres.
The 26 shops in the centre extend to 8,957sq m (96,408 sq ft) at ground floor level and include the anchor trader Tesco, which owns its own store. The main traders are Boots, which pays €146,000 for 305sq m (3,288sq ft); McDonalds, which pays €120,000 for 209sq m (2,250sq ft); and Lifestyle Sports, which pays €50,000 for 334sq m (3,600sq ft).
Other tenants include Jack & Jones, which pays €45,000 for 120sq m (1,300sq ft); Holland & Barrett, which pays €30,000 for 130sq m (1,400sq ft); and Carphone Warehouse, which pays €22,500 for 835sq m (9,000 sq ft).
Since the centre was first offered for sale last June, letting agents JLL enlisted two traders to fill the last vacant shops. Trader CEX agreed to take 111sq m (1,200sq ft) on the ground floor at €30,000 per annum. The electronics retailer is also trading from 21 other locations, including Westmoreland Street in Dublin and Omni and Stillorgan shopping centres.
Also in Monaghan, Walnut Grove, selling local gifts and clothing, took a short lease of a 73sq m (785sq ft) shop at a rent of €20,000 per annum.
One of the strong selling points for the Monaghan centre is the unusually large number of surface car parking spaces immediately adjoining it. It has 660 car parking spaces in three parks, one of which is owned by the centre and can accommodate 190 vehicles.
