Buyers found for most of 21 Kylemore shops

A mobile phone retailer, O'Hagan Technology, has paid a premium of over £200,000 (€253,947) for the lease of the Kylemore Bakery shop at the junction of Nassau Street and Grafton Street in Dublin 2.

The shop has a ground floor area of only 246 sq ft and a basement of 277 sq ft. The current rent of £60,000 (€76,184) was set at the end of 2000.

Ben Pearson of Douglas Newman Good Commercial,Kylemore's agent, has also found buyers for almost all the other 21 shops in various locations being vacated following the closure of the Kylemore bakery.

Most of the outlets were held on leases and a number were freeholds.

The highest price of around £400,000 (€507,895) was paid by the landlords for the freehold of the unit at Navan shopping centre. There are currently four tenants pitching for it.

By comparison, there was no interest in a shop at the recently extended Crescent shopping centre in Limerick and the lease was surrendered to the landlord. At the Parkway shopping centre in Limerick there have been no takers so far for a 609 ft unit which rents at £18,108 (€22,992) per annum.

In Galway, a virtual freehold unit of 400 sq ft at the Eyre Square shopping centre was sold for around £250,000 (€317,434), £20,000 (€25,394) more than was paid for a small unit at Drogheda Town Centre.

The agents are still quoting £150,000 (€190,460) for the lease of a shop at the ILAC shopping centre in Mary Street, Dublin 1.

Elsewhere in the city, the leases of Kylemore shops at Lower Baggot Street and Upper Baggot Street each fetched £100,000 (€126,973). One at Lower Abbey Street made £55,000 (€69,835).

There was disappointing interest in a shop at the Swan Centre in Rathmines, where the lease went for £20,000 (€25,394). The opposite applied for Kylemore's shop at the junction of North Earl Street and O'Connell Street and the company decided to retain it.

In the provinces, a freehold shop of 320 sq ft at Laois shopping centre in Portlaoise made £135,000 (€171,414).

The lease of a shop in the City Square Shopping Centre in Waterford sold for £25,000 (€31,743), while a slightly larger unit at Wilton shopping centre in Cork made £30,000 (€38,092). Key money of £10,000 (€12,697) was paid for shops at the Longwalk shopping centre in Dundalk and Longford shopping centre.