Having been closed for more than a year during the Covid-19 pandemic after a fire caused an estimated €30 million in damage to its car park, the newly-refurbished Douglas Village Shopping Centre is being offered to the market at a guide price of €21 million.
Located in the heart of Douglas village and just 3.5km south of Cork city centre, the scheme, which extends to 21,863sq m (230,000sq ft) on a 2.47-hectare (6.1-acre) site, is Ireland’s second-oldest shopping centre after Stillorgan Shopping Centre, having first opened for business in 1971.
And while it underwent a substantial redevelopment in 2007 involving the addition of a 1,000-space multi-storey car park, it was that extension that saw it hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2019 when a vehicle went up in flames allegedly resulting in a major fire and “immense damage”. The blaze, which reached an estimated temperature of 1,000 degrees, destroyed 49 cars and caused steel girders in the structure to buckle. When engineers declared the car park to be unsafe, it was demolished and rebuilt.
Today, Douglas Village Shopping Centre is very much back in business and home to numerous major retail occupiers. As well as being anchored by Tesco and Marks & Spencer, the suburban Cork scheme counts TK Maxx, Eurogiant, Bank of Ireland and the recently opened Petstop within its tenant line-up. All the retail units and kiosks are located on the centre’s ground-floor level while a library and gym are positioned overhead. A very popular farmers’ market trades on the plaza outside Marks & Spencer on Saturday mornings.
The total current rental income is €2,407,282 per annum and the weighted average unexpired lease terms is seven years to break options and 11 years to expiry. Mark & Spencer, TK Maxx, Bank of Ireland, Eurogiant and Cork City Council contribute to 54 per cent of the total income.
With another lease currently in legals according to Cushman & Wakefield, the rent receivable is on course to increase shortly. The letting of this and the remainder of the centre’s vacant units has the potential the selling agent says to add between €300,000 and €500,000 per annum to the scheme’s overall income. The guide price of €21 million (exclusive of VAT) reflects a net initial yield of 10.42 per cent assuming standard purchaser costs of 9.96 per cent. In addition, the vendor is in a position to provide debt terms to a proposed purchaser.
Douglas Village Shopping Centre has a prime location in the centre of Douglas and benefits from extensive frontage on to the Cork city south ring road/N40 offering easy access to a large local catchment that includes the affluent suburbs of Rochestown, Carrigaline, Grange, Turner’s Cross and Blackrock.
Karl Stewart of Cushman & Wakefield says: “Douglas Village Shopping Centre offers the opportunity to acquire a modern shopping centre steeped in history. The centre has undergone significant refurbishment over the past number of years since its initial redevelopment in 2007. It offers incoming investors a strong income on acquisition from a mix of international, national and local retailers with an immediate opportunity to increase the rent receivable in the short term through pro-active asset management and leasing.”
