Anytime Fitness and Insomnia take off at Heuston

An international gym franchise and a leading Irish coffee chain are to join the retail mix at Heuston South Quarter (HSQ) beside Heuston Station in Dublin 8.

Letting agent Savills says Anytime Fitness, which operates in some 3,000 locations worldwide, is to open in early 2016 after securing a 604sq m (6,500sq ft) unit at HSQ.

Insomnia is to open a 121sq m (1,300sq ft) unit at HSQ in six weeks.

These new tenancies will increase the appeal of HSQ as a destination whose tenants include SuperValu, Subway, AOL and Eircom.

Savills also reports that the 27,871sq m (300,000sq ft) of office space at HSQ is now fully let and houses a workforce of around 2,400.

The 343 apartments at HSQ are also fully let.

Larry Brennan of Savills says that, of the six remaining retail units at HSQ available for letting, "two are under offer, and there continues to be several expressions of interest from both local and international occupiers for the others".

These retail units range in size from 75sq m (810sq ft) and 149sq m (1,600sq ft) and the agent is quoting indicative rents of €269 to €323 per sq m (€25 to €30 per sq ft) depending on size and location of units.

HSQ was developed by Galway-based JJ Rhatigan in 2005 and is one of the best mixed-use schemes in the city in recent years.

New York-based Marathon Asset Management, which has invested heavily in distressed Irish property over the past two years, paid €120 million in July 2014 for loans associated with HSQ which were offloaded by Lloyds Banking Group.

The €9.5 million rental income at the time gave Marathon an immediate return of 5.8 per cent.

Last October, Marathon emerged as the top bidder for five retail parks, including the first phase of The Park Carrickmines, at €155 million.

The four other parks are the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda; Lakepoint Retail Park in Mullingar; Poppyfield Retail Park in Clonmel; and Four Lakes Retail Park, outside Carlow Town.

It also bought City Square Shopping Centre in Waterford for just over €21 million.

HSQ also includes 3.6 acres of land for future development which a feasibility study shows could accommodate about 18,166sq m (195,537sq ft) of commercial accommodation and 115 apartments.