Waterford's City Square shopping centre has been put on the market by a US investment fund for €24.5 million.
The Irish Times reports that the move by Marathon Asset Management follows the US investment giant’s recent agreement of a deal to sell three of its best-known Irish retail parks.
City Square Shopping Centre enjoys a prime retail pitch in the heart of Waterford city. While the scheme is anchored by Dunnes Stores, this unit is not included in the sale as it is owned separately. Key tenants, meanwhile, include River Island, JD Sports, Peter Mark, GameStop and Holland & Barrett and the former Debenhams department store.
The centre was developed in 1994 by Sisk and sold a year later to IBI Property Nominees Ltd.
The centre is currently generating total rental income of €1.58 million a year, with expected total market rent of more than €2.6 million a year on the successful letting of the vacant units.
The scheme comes with 450 parking spaces, has a current average weekly footfall of approximately 110,000, and is a prime retail destination in the city, with 34 retail units and kiosks.
Michele McGarry, head of capital markets with Colliers, who is handling the sale on behalf of Marathon, told the Irish Times that City Square offers plenty of potential for a new investor.
“We expect strong interest in the sale of City Square on behalf of domestic and overseas buyers with an appetite for top-quality retail investments. The immense asset management opportunities available offer the buyer a blank canvas to vastly improve the rent roll and to add value,” she says.
Divestment strategy
The sale of the Waterford shopping centre represents the latest in a series of disposals by Marathon. The New York-headquartered investor acquired City Square in 2015 for €21 million, at a time when it was producing an annual rental income of €1.7 million. Marathon subsequently upgraded and extended the centre, with works including an expansion of the food court, additional retail units and general mall improvements.
The fund has just agreed a sale for its Parks Collection portfolio, which comprises Belgard Retail Park in Tallaght, the M1 Retail Park near Drogheda, Co Louth, and Poppyfield Retail Park in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. It also recently instructed agent Cushman & Wakefield to bring another of its foremost regional retail assets to the market, Manor West Shopping Park in Tralee, Co Kerry, for €55.2 million.
