Having failed to find a buyer for the Frascati Centre in Blackrock when it offered it to prospective purchasers in a quiet, targeted process for about €100 million in 2023, the owners of the south Dublin retail scheme are preparing to offer it for sale on the open market in the coming weeks. The price on this occasion is expected to be set at a new and lower guide of between €75 million and €80 million, and the sale process is being handled jointly by Cushman & Wakefield and Eastdil Secured.
Acquired by its current owner, Invesco Real Estate, for €68 million in 2015, the Frascati Centre has undergone something of a transformation since then, with a further €80 million spent on its renovation and extension.
In the previous confidential sale memorandum, which it circulated on behalf of the centre’s owners to selected parties two years ago, Eastdil Secured described the Frascati Centre as “a 220,000sq ft radically transformed dominant mixed-use town centre scheme in the affluent area of Blackrock, Dublin, with significant upside potential through additional PRS (private rented sector) development opportunities”.
The Blackrock property currently comprises some 177,000sq ft of retail space and 43,000sq ft of residential accommodation distributed across 42 apartments. The scheme is generating an annual rent roll of €6.9 million, with the retail and residential elements accounting for €5.4 million and €1.5 million of this income respectively.
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There is an opportunity to increase the Frascati Centre’s net operating income substantially, with full planning permission in place for the development of an additional 123 rental apartments across two phases.
More than 60 per cent of the Frascati Centre’s current income is being driven by the scheme’s grocery anchors, Marks & Spencer and Aldi, along with the existing 42 rental apartments, all of which are occupied, and 555 car-parking spaces. The development’s 45 retail units underwent a €30 million extension and refurbishment programme between 2018 and 2019.
The tenant line-up here includes Vodafone, Boots, Bannon Jewellers, Vienna Shoes, Bookstation, Pamela Scott, Serena Boutique, Health Store, Murrays Mobile and Trespass. Irish homeware retailer Home Store + More occupies the basement level of the former Debenhams unit.
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The Frascati Centre’s dedicated restaurant area includes Caffe Nero, Kay’s Kitchen, McDonald’s and Dublin Japanese sushi restaurant chain Musashi. The scheme’s health and beauty quarter includes a flagship Peter Mark, a gents’ grooming studio at Sugar Daddy, Sugar Coated for manicures and Sisu Aesthetics Clinic alongside Shields Dental, GNC health foods and sports supplements, Blackrock Medical Centre, the Yoga Hub and a gym.
