Receiver moves in at Balbriggan shopping centre

The three-year-old Millfield Shopping Centre in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, has been put into receivership by Nama.

Chartered accountants BDO have taken over the operation of the centre, which was developed by Parkway Properties, a company controlled by six investors.

Most of the €40 million funding came initially from Anglo Irish Bank and later from Nama.

The appointment of a receiver is all the more surprising because the centre includes Ireland's second largest Tesco store after Maynooth – a unit extending to 9,754sq m (105,000sq ft) – which is likely to be yielding a rent in the region of €2 million.

The British supermarket giant is also understood to have paid a premium estimated at around €7 million to be allowed to influence the final configuration which permits it to trade out of two internal street levels.

The centre has a total retail area of 17,000sq m (almost 183,000sq ft) and includes 30 individual shop units, ten of which have still to be let.

The original letting campaign by Jones Lang LaSalle and Savills coincided with the economic collapse and the banking crisis.

The difficulty of finding tenants was compounded by the fact that the developers offered shops for letting in shell and core condition which would have involved an expensive tenant fit-out. Many traders simply could not afford to carry out such expensive work.

However, about 20 shops are currently trading including those occupied by the highly successful Gleeson Butchers as well as Boots, Specsavers, Vera Moda, Easons, Carphone Warehouse, Jack & Jones and McDonald's.

Car parking
One of the great features of the centre is its 952-space car park at basement and upper floor levels, which has proved extremely popular with shoppers.

The overall design was handled by noted architects A&D Wejchert whose work in the retail area has included Blanchardstown Town Centre and the Gaiety Centre on Dublin’s South King Street.