In short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

€1m sought for Dublin 2 site

AGENTS HT Meagher O'Reilly are seeking €1 million for a small development site and an adjoining building between the junctions of Wexford Street and Aungier Street on Redmond's Hill in Dublin 2. The property adjoins the Bishop's Square office development owned by Bernard McNamara and the pension fund IPUT.

The site extends to 573sq m (6,167sq ft) and is next to the three-storey 387sq m (4,165sq ft) building. The complex includes a number of occupied retail units as well as residential accommodation and offices. The overall site runs to 0.08 of a hectare (0.2 of an acre) and, according to James Meagher of the selling agent, has considerable potential because of its location. If a buyer is not found, the agent plans to offer the site for sale at €500,000 and the buildings at a similar figure.

Skechers for Grafton Street

WITHIN A FEW days of the arrival of Disney on Dublin’s Grafton Street, another American trader, Skechers USA, has announced that it will be opening a fitness footwear outlet at the former Warehouse shop on the opposite side of the street. The same Irish franchisee for the American company opened its first Irish store in the former Envy building on Henry Street before Christmas. The Warehouse building has remained empty for two years because of the fall-off in consumer spending, adverse publicity about high retail rents and the difficulty in securing bank finance.

Skechers is understood to have agreed a rent of €230,000 for the new store. Warehouse had been paying an annual rent of €450,000 for the shop, which has a ground floor area of 102sq m (1,100sq ft)and a storage area of 43sq m (467sq ft). Under the terms of the lease, owner Aviva has a break option on year seven if it decides to redevelop the store to provide significantly more retail space.

Mervyn Feely of agents HWBC, who handled the letting, has also let the former Cafe Sol shop near the bottom of Grafton Street to Gino ice cream. The 27sq m unit (300sq ft) is managed by State Street Global which recently acquired Bank of Ireland Asset Management.

D15 warehouses for rent

SAVILLS IS QUOTING a rent of €430,000 a year for two high bay warehouse buildings at Northwest Business Park, about five kilometres from the junction of the M50 and the Navan Road at Dublin 15. The two warehouses extend to 6,683 sq m (71,935sq ft)and stand on a site of 5.4 acres, including a large concrete yard. Gavin Butler of the agency says the buildings would suit logistics and transport companies, builders’ merchants or manufacturing companies.