Waterford's Ferrybank centre to open in April 2012

THE LONG delayed opening of the completed Ferrybank shopping centre in Waterford city has finally been fixed for April 3rd, 2012, despite uncertainty as to whether Dunnes Stores will begin trading from the anchor store.

The €100 million, mixed-use centre, on the opposite side of the River Suir from the city centre, was due to have opened for business in September, 2008. However, the opening did not go ahead because of differences between the development company and Dunnes.

Earlier, Dunnes were reported to have paid a “record price” for the 6,200sq m (66,736sq ft) of retail space on two levels. At the height of the property boom, some UK and Irish multiples paid up to €500 per sq ft (€5,382 per sq m) for anchor stores in new shopping centres.

At that valuation – and there is no indication as to how much Dunnes paid – a store of the size at Ferrybank might have been valued in excess of €33 million. The disagreement between Dunnes and Ferrybank was later the subject of arbitration proceedings but the final recommendation has never been made public.

Although Tesco has three stores at Poleberry, Ardkeane and Lisduggan, it too pitched for the Ferrybank outlet with the intention of consolidating its dominant position in the city. Dunnes operates a store at City Square shopping centre in the city centre. Tesco’s three out-of-town stores, with free car parking, have cornered most of the local business, not least the store at Ardkeane which opens around the clock.

Developer Derry McPhillips and his bankers, Bank of Ireland, are now understood to have agreed on a strategy to get Ferrybank operational. They have engaged Larry Brennan, retail expert with agents Savills, to let 20 available shops in the main mall with a total floor area of 2,322sq m (25,000sq ft). The entire centre extends to 23,225sq m (250,000sq ft) and includes a covered car park with more than 1,000 spaces. Rents for shop units are likely to be between €322 and €376 per sq m (€30/€35 per sq ft).

The centre owners will obviously be hoping to persuade the fast-expanding Marks Spencer chain to open its first Waterford outlet in Ferrybank even though the British multiple is known for demanding major concessions on the rent and fit-out costs.

The new shopping centre occupies a prominent site just across the border in Kilkenny with 250 metres of frontage on to the N25 New Ross/Waterford road and within one mile of Rice Memorial Bridge.

Apart from attracting shoppers from Waterford city, the new centre will also be hoping to cater for some of the residents of south Wexford, south Tipperary and Co Kilkenny.