Top bidder aims to buy Lucan Shopping Centre for €47 million

By Brendan Grehan

THE EUROPEAN RETAIL Fund is in line as the top bidder for Lucan Shopping Centre at about €47 million, a figure which is €7 million above the guide price.

The 12,008 sq m centre has SuperValu as an anchor tenant and also has Dunnes Stores, McDonald’s and Starbucks as tenants. There was intense bidding between Irish and overseas companies. The yield will be about 5.5 per cent.

The centre was put on the market by Savills as part of the SV4 collection which included SuperValu Ranelagh, SuperValu Rathgar and the Kilbarry shopping centre in Co Waterford.

The Ranelagh and Rathgar centres are being purchased by the German real estate fund Patrizia for a combined figure of €25 million – €1 million over the guide price.

The Kilbarry centre in Waterford is still under negotiation between interested parties. It has an asking price of €16 million.

The four shopping facilities originally formed part of a loan portfolio known as Project Aspen sold by Nama in 2013 for less than the €200 million asking price on behalf of investors David Courtney, Gerry O’Reilly and Terence Sweeney.

After acquiring the collection at a discount of around 75 per cent, Starwood Capital, along with two other investment groups, Key Capital and Catalyst Capital, managed to negotiate an extension of the rental arrangements with the Musgrave Group, owners of SuperValu.

The Lucan neighbourhood centre dates from 1991 and has a floor area of 12,008 sq m (129,252 sq ft).

Trading alongside SuperValu is Dunnes Stores which holds a long leasehold on its premises at a nominal rent. SuperValu underpins 59 per cent of the rent roll which stands at €2,695,934.

There is a weighted average lease period to run of 11.8years.