One, two and three ‘bite-sized’ lots offer at Cork's Opera Lane: get all three for €5.5m

Offered this month are more ‘bite-sized’ lots of the so-called Opera Lane Collection, which had been put to the open market in March of this year for €26m and comprising the majority of the open retail boulevard Opera Lane’s 20 shop units.

Three are now offered at prices from €1.25m to €3m, or with the initial trio available via agents Cushman & Wakefield for €5.5m and offering investors a return of 7.74% across the three.

Occupiers are Tommy Hilfiger in Unit 16 on St Patrick’s Street/Opera Lane, with a passing income of €271,618 and a guide of €3m, offering a net initial yield (NIY) of 8.23%; Apple product reseller Select at Unit 17a, with a rent of €100,000 pa and a guide of €1.25m for a NIY of 7.28%, while Starbucks occupies a corner premises in a Queen Anne building by the Emmet Place end of Opera Lane by the Crawford Art Gallery, at Unit 19, paying €96,781 pa. This unit has a guide of €1.25m, indicating a NIY of 7.04%.

The three properties are being offered individually or entirely with a rent of €468,399 by Cushman & Wakefield “to benefit from the strong demand for investments of this lot size in Cork at present”, say the agents, instancing the recent successful sale of No 39 St Patrick’s Street.

Also changing on St Patrick’s Street is the former Debenhams/Roches Stores building, acquired by Elverys/Intersport for c €12m this year and due for redevelopment, while Flannels has opened across the street, with a new Mango due to follow in the old Quills building on the other side of the Savoy Centre.

Carrolls Irish Gifts have taken on the old Oasis building at 48/49 St Patrick’s Street this year, paying a reported rent of €200,000 pa for 1,900 sq ft at ground on a new 10-year lease, and that freshly reoccupied property is currently being marketed for sale to investors by agents Cushman & Wakefield, at an unconfirmed c €2.5m+.

Going on recent investment activity and interest, the move to offer Opera Lane retail units in smaller lots is expected to rekindle interest and deals after the €26.75m larger lot offer this year failed to find a buyer.

That major offer — for investorowners Deutsche Bank — had included Munster’s only H&M outlet at a regeared rent of €950,000 to include a percentage of turnover from December 2023. The Collection also included Next, Specsavers, Skechers, New Look, and Therapie, with H&M accounting for 35% of income on a total rent roll of €2.71m, with a return of 9.2% on the €26.71m guide (ex Vat).

Opera Lane is a seminal development in the retail heart of Cork City centre, assembled from the former Cork Examiner offices and printing presses, Johnson & Perrott motors garage owned by the Whitaker family, and other smaller lots in the mid-2000s, as brand new, open-air shopping street with 61 overhead luxury apartments, it was developed by O’Callaghan Properties at the same time as OCP developed on Half Moon Street by the Opera House and Crawford Art Gallery, where a multi-million euro development of the latter is to start in the next year.

The C&W offers on Opera Lane exclude Nos 12-18 (inc Top Shop — not currently trading — Office Shoes and River Island), which had been sold for the Whitaker family back in 2018 to financiers State Street, for a reported €25m.

While three, let to Tommy Hilfiger, Select, and Starbucks, are now offered individually this month, no details are confirmed of the other Opera Lane retail investments in the larger C&W portfolio, including H&M, with no firm currently revealed on them, according to agent Peter Love.

Cushmans’ Karl Stewart said their current offer of three “represents a unique opportunity for private investors and funds to acquire two high-profile units on St Patrick’s Street, and the historic Queen Anne Building on to Emmet Place. The opportunity provides a strong rental return to a mix of international operators, which will benefit from the improving foot traffic in Cork city centre as a result of a number of recent openings on St Patrick’s Street.”

Head of Cushman & Wakefield Cork, Peter O’Flynn, noted: “This is a good time for Cork City, with recent announcements around BusConnects and the new Rapid Transit Rail connection to Kent Station, the city centre will become much more accessible to a wider audience. As the City Council continues to
invest in new pedestrian infrastructure, Cork has already become much more
retail and leisure friendly, and this will only continue to improve.

“The St Patrick’s Street revival is very much happening, with new retail entries and the imminent redevelopment of Penney’s and the former Debenhams properties,” said Mr O’Flynn. DETAILS:
Cushman & Wakefield, 021-4275454
www.cushmanwakefield.com