New chapter for Waterstones building in Cork at €6.25m

A high-profile business premises occupied by Waterstones bookshop at 68-69 Patrick Street in Cork city centre goes on sale from today at €6.25 million.

Based on the annual rent of €770,000, the investment will show an initial yield of 11.36 per cent after allowing for standard purchasing costs, according to selling agent CBRE.

The latest investment opportunity on Cork's main retail thoroughfare comes as Savills has reached agreement on the sale of two of the three shops it first offered for sale on the same street last March on behalf of the pension fund IPUT.

One of these, numbers 74-75, is occupied by Sostrene Grene at an annual rent of €230,000 while the second store, at number 73, is let to Abrakebabra at €190,000 per annum.

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The third IPUT building to have been offered for sale, number 79, is rented by Carphone Warehouse at €190,000 per annum.

Meanwhile, the double-fronted Waterstones building, which is expected to attract considerable interest, has an overall floor area of 1,050sq m (11,367sq ft), including 590sq m (6,353sq ft) at street level. The building has the advantage of a double frontage of 10m on to Patrick Street and 11m on to Paul Street, which has a high footfall in its own right. Waterstones’ 35-year lease from March 1988 has 5.25 years to run.

According to Brian Edwards of CBRE, the retail investment was likely to appeal to an international market as well as Irish institutional funds and private investors anxious to secure a presence on Cork’s principal shopping street.

Natalie Brennan of CBRE said the recent purchase of the Capital Scheme by Real IS for €45.6 million on the opposite side of the street was widely viewed as an endorsement of Cork city as a viable alternative investment location to Dublin.