Gap for former Habitat store on Suffolk Street

GAP, THE American fashion giant, and a British restaurant chain may end up dividing the former Habitat store in Dublin between them.

Habitat closed last May after running into trading difficulties near the bottom of Dublin's Grafton Street.

Gap has yet to make a final decision on whether it will lease a large section of the old Habitat store fronting on to Suffolk Street. A planning application has been lodged with Dublin City Council to allow a licensed restaurant to open along the entrance on College Green. A dividing wall is to be built in the store to allow two new businesses to operate independently.

Gap has been in negotiations for some weeks with owners Clarendon Properties, controlled by Paddy McKillen and Tony Leonard, which bought the former Bank of Ireland branch in 2002 for €22 million.

Should Gap decide to proceed with the Suffolk Street premises it can expect to pay around €950,000 for 464.5sq m (5,000sq ft) on the ground floor and a further 650sq m (7,000sq ft) at first floor level.

The restaurant, which has not yet been identified, is likely to be paying around €500,000 in rent for about 464.5sq m (5,000sq ft) on the ground floor. It will also have the use of a small mezzanine area.

Gap's decision to look at the Suffolk Street shop comes after the considerable success of its concession unit in Arnotts. That company had obviously hoped to have Gap as one of its main franchises in its planned €750 million Northern Quarter mixed-use development.

Gap is one of the most successful American fashion groups and includes other brands such as Banana Republic, Old Navy and online trader Piperlime. The group had sales of almost $12 billion (€8.7 billion) for the 43 weeks up to November 29th. That showed a slippage of 6 per cent on a similar period in 2007.