OMNIPLEX Holdings, the entertainment and leisure group controlled by Paul Anderson and his wife Margaret, has bought the Swan Shopping Centre in Rathmines, Dublin 6, for £13m in a deal which will give them an initial return of just over 7 per cent.
It has taken British Land exactly 12 months to find a buyer for the centre which it bought nine years ago for about £8.5 million. The investment failed to live up to expectations, and despite spending considerable funds on upgrading the centre, it continued to trade well below its potential, partially because it failed to attract any of the key UK multiples. Plans to increase the pedestrian flow through the complex by providing a multiplex cinema on top of the centre ran into difficulties and was eventually turned down by the city planners. That decision has since been appealed to An Bord Pleanala, but Mr Anderson said yesterday they may withdraw the appeal to enable them to take a fresh look at the cinemas planned for the first floor. The new owners are to spend £10m million on upgrading the centre to reflect "the re-emergence of Rathmines as a soughtafter location with improved amenities and services". The company will be targeting some of the UK multiples, but will also seek approval for a range of amenity, leisure and entertainment facilities over the next two to three years.
Mr Anderson said that not alone would the cinemas help to rejuvenate The Swan centre but it would mean that huge numbers of people living in the immediate area would not have to travel to out-of-town locations. British Land closed down 14 retail units on the first floor in the expectation that they would get permission for a 1,000-seater multiplex cinemas. Even without the cinemas, the centre is producing a rental income of £910,000 per annum.
John McNally of McNally Handy advised Omniplex Holdings on the purchase of the centre, while the joint selling agents were Jones Lang LaSalle and Douglas Newman Good Commercial. The centre is currently earning around £100,000 from the 315-space underground car-park since a new access point was opened along Rathmines Road. The centre has 90,000 sq ft of retail space with 38 retail units on the ground floor. It is anchored by Dunnes Stores, which has food, fashion and hardware units. Dunnes own its 36,000 sq ft supermarket but pays rents of £55,000 for other space.
A McDonald's restaurant pays a rent of £60,000 for a two-storey unit which fronts on to Rathmines Road. Other tenants include Xtra-Vision, which pays a rent of £64,500; EBS, £29,000; Cafe Kylemore, £56,000 and Let's Talk Phones, £25,000.
