First shops launched at Grand Canal Harbour

Dockland Commercials: With new developments at the Grand Canal Harbour in Dublin docklands rapidly taking shape, the focus of attention has now shifted to the retail units on the ground floor which are to be let over the coming weeks.

Joint agents Hooke & MacDonald and Palmer McCormack are this week launching a marketing campaign for the first retail unit at Grand Canal Dock, a convenience store, as well as a bar/restaurant and a crèche.

The harbour area has all the signs of becoming a vibrant new city centre location with over 3,500 apartments planned for the general area as well as a 160-bedroom Park Hyatt Hotel and various waterfront bars, restaurants, cafés, shops and offices.

The centrepiece of the scheme will be a major new cultural building, Dublin's answer to Sydney's Opera House, which will front on to the recently completed public piazza, Grand Canal Square.

All the ground floor space in apartment and office blocks being developed along the harbour is to be handed over on completion to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority who will retain it for long term lettings.

Hence, the decision to seek a tenant for the convenience store which will have a floor space of 256 sq m (2,755 sq ft) when it is handed over in the autumn of 2005. The corner store will be located along a stretch which will also have a pharmacy, cafés, restaurants, hair and beauty salon and showrooms.

With all the main supermarket groups now interested in developing convenience stores, traders such as Spar and Centra are likely to have considerable competition for this unit which is expected to rent at €150,000 per annum, according to Enda Moore of Hooke & MacDonald.

The bar/restaurant, scheduled for completion in the spring of 2005, will be considerably larger than the convenience store with a floor area of 846 sq m (9,106 sq ft) at ground and basement levels. It will adjoin both the hotel and the cultural centre and will overlook the square. The premise is to be offered for sale at €3.25 million or for rent at over €220,000 per annum.

The crèche will also be on the large size, 606 sq m (6,522 sq ft) and will include car-parking facilities, a large external play area and a dedicated drop off area. Purchasers, whether crèche operators or investors, can avail of generous capital allowances on qualifying expenditure.

This can be claimed either in the first year or alternatively over a seven-year period. The joint agents are guiding a selling price of over €2 million for the crèche or alternatively more than €120,000 for the rent of the premises.