Having failed to find a buyer when it was last offered for sale for €36 million in 2016, Carlow’s Fairgreen Shopping Centre is back on the market at a new and much-reduced price of €22.85 million.
Developed by Northern Ireland businessman Dr Gerard O’Hare, whose company Parker Green International also built The Quays shopping centre in Newry, Co Down, the scheme extends to 23,117sq m (248,829sq ft) of retail space (including three owner-occupier anchor tenants) and is producing a current net rent roll of €2.36 million per annum. The proposed sale of the shopping centre by agent JLL on behalf of receivers EY offers the prospective purchaser the opportunity to secure a net initial yield of 9.4 per cent.
Located in the heart of Carlow town, Fairgreen Shopping Centre comprises 50 retail units including kiosks providing a mix of grocery, fashion and service-led retailers such as New Look, Costa, Eurogiant, Carraig Donn, Elverys, River Island and JD Sports.
The combination of these tenants and the centre’s three owner-occupier anchors – Tesco, Heatons and an IMC cinema – help to attract a footfall of some three million visitors per annum. The two main phases of the three-phase scheme are practically fully let at present with just one kiosk space unoccupied, while the centre has 762 surface car-parking spaces offering three-hour free parking.
Apart from the existing retail space, the current owners secured planning permission in 2019 for a new two-storey standalone retail unit of more than 3,700sq m (40,000sq ft) with a view to securing an additional large anchor tenant in place of unit 27. This new planning is in place of a previous feasibility study for this portion of the site which proposed a new retail parade of more than 10,200sq m (110,000sq ft) with 15 new units, including three larger anchor units.
The sustainability and ESG credentials of the existing shopping centre, meanwhile, have been enhanced over recent years with several initiatives introduced in this regard. These measures saw some 85 per cent of the scheme’s lights upgraded to LED and the installation of solar panels in 2015. The latter initiative delivered a reported annual saving of 6.5 per cent per annum on electricity costs.
Carlow has seen strong population growth over the past 10 years with a reported 8.8 per cent increase reported in the recent 2022 census. Fairgreen Shopping Centre, for its part, has an immediate catchment of nearly 33,000 people located within a 10-minute drive.
Brian Shields, who is handling the sale on behalf of JLL, says: “With its prime location in the heart of Carlow town and easily accessible surface car park, we expect to see strong interest in Fairgreen Shopping Centre. As a scheme, it continues to trade exceptionally well, and this is evidenced by the fact that it is effectively fully let across phases one and two.”
