IN SHORT

More commercial property news in brief.

Swarovski at Blanchardstown

Luxury gift and crystal retailer Swarovski is the latest international name to appear at the Blanchardstown Centre in west Dublin. It will be paying a rent of €140,000 per annum for a 45sq m (484sq ft) shop next to the flagship HM store on level two of the centre.

Swarovski is based in Austria and operates 120 shops worldwide. It opened outlets in Grafton Street and Henry Street earlier this year and chose Blanchardstown as its first shopping centre in this country.

Eoin Feeney says that the opening of the Swarovski store is part of an ongoing campaign by owners Green Property to attract leading international brands to Blanchardstown. Other recent arrivals include Newbridge Silverware, Swatch and Butlers Chocolate Cafe.

Meteor, the mobile phone retailer, is moving to a larger unit of 70sq m (753sq ft) for which it will be paying a rent of €190,000 per annum.

Elsewhere in the centre Starbucks has begun fitting out a new 140sq m (1,507sq ft) coffee shop in retail park number two, opposite a new bus interchange.

DTZ Sherry Fitz wins award

DTZ Sherry FitzGerald has won the coveted "Property Adviser of the Year" award for Ireland at the annual Estate Gazette ceremony in London.

The awards are made for achievements in the UK and Irish commercial property markets. Readers of the Estates Gazettemagazine voted throughout June for the successful developers and estate agents.

Pictured above at the award ceremony is Fintan Tierney (left), managing director of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, accepting the award from Pat Power of Harcourt Developments.

€4.5m for Cashel hotel

The Bailey Hotel and Leisure Club at Main Street in Cashel, Co Tipperary, is expected to sell for over €4.5 million, according to selling agent John Hughes of CBRE.

The former Georgian townhouse was restored, extended and converted into a four-star hotel by local developer William Ryan. It has a modern restaurant, 19 bedrooms and a leisure centre including a 20-metre swimming pool. There is also a separate shop with a floor area of 370sq m (3,983sq ft).

€215,000 rent for Lucan shop 

Agent HWBC is marketing the former Golfworks retail unit at Lucan Retail Park in west Dublin. A rent of €215,000 is being quoted for the 653sq m (7,029sq ft) building which adjoins Woodies, TC Matthews and DID Electrical.

The park fronts on to the N4 dual-carriageway at the Ballydowd interchange where the traffic flow exceeds 72,000 vehicles per day. An incoming trader will have the opportunity of opening before Christmas.

Centra to anchor D11 complex 

Convenience store Centra is to anchor a new neighbourhood shopping complex in Dwyer Nolan's Hampton Wood residential development at Finglas, Dublin 11. The multiple is understood to be paying around €430 per sq m (€40 per sq ft) for a store of 270sq m (2,906sq ft) which will open next month. The developers have sold over 400 homes on the site to date and plan to add another 700.

Agent Hooke MacDonald is now marketing a further 180sq m (1,938sq ft) of retail space which can be let as a single unit or divided up into two or three shops. Rents will start at €376 per sq m (€35 per sq ft). There are also two high profile retail units available on the busy Jamestown Road. These have floor areas of 64sq m (689sq ft) and 72sq m (775sq ft) and are available at rents of €300 per sq m (€28 per sq ft).

Equity group for D2 tower

SeaHold Group, a Dublin-based private equity group specialising in marine and property investments, has leased the top two floors in the Malting Tower, the distinctive former mill at Grand Canal Quay in Dublin 2. The group is taking 128sq m (1,378sq ft) of space on a five-year lease. The rent will be over €70,000 per annum.

Based in Dublin but with offices in Aberdeen and representation in Oslo and Perth, Australia, SeaHold Group specialises in marine investments ranging from offshore oil and gas support services to yachts and marina development.

The third and fourth floors extending to 156sq m (1,679sq ft) are now the last remaining floors available to lease in the building which has views across Grand Canal Quay. The remaining suite is available on flexible lease terms.

The building is one of a number in the area owned by the landlord, Treasury Holdings, including the residential Alto Vetro tower and the Monte Vetro office development under construction on Barrow Street. When completed in mid 2010, this latter scheme will extend to 19,400sq m (208,820sq ft) and will be one of the largest and most distinctive single office developments in Dublin.

The letting was arranged by Simon McEvoy of Jones Lang LaSalle.