IRISH Life has sold two shops in the lLAC shopping centre in

Dublin to a company which is developing a retail and apartment scheme along the Parnell Street frontage of the centre. The two 500 square foot shops along the Parnell Mall will be used as an entrance to a new Argos store, which is to occupy 10,000 square feet in the scheme being developed by South Dublin Construction. It will be the fourth store to be opened in the Republic by the catalogue showroom retailer. The company will be paying a rent of under £18 a square foot for the 30,000-square-foot unit, which will open in August. It will be able to claim double rent allowances and a remission of rates for 10 years because the development is located in a designated area.

The company will also be able to avail of similar tax breaks when it opens another store at the nearby Jervis Street Shopping Centre next October. Argos began trading this week at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, Cruises Street in Limerick and in temporary premises at Mary Street, Dublin 1. Lambert Smith Hampton acted for Argos.

The remaining 20,000 square feet of retail space in the new Parnell Street scheme is available for letting in units from 570-square feet to 13,000 square feet. Joint agents Spain Courtney-Doyle and GPK Properties are quoting £18 per square foot for space in the new building. The development will include 160- apartments and 80 car-parking spaces.