Ireland's largest regional shopping centre for sale guiding in excess of €150 million

Joint agents Savills and Coady Supple have been instructed to bring the Freehold investment interest in Whitewater Shopping Centre, Newbridge, Ireland to the market this week for sale by Private Treaty.
 
Whitewater Shopping Centre, which opened in 2006, comprises 4 anchortenants, 63 retail units, 11 food court units, a 6 screen cinema, and 1,700 landlord controlled car parking spaces. In addition, there are 84 residential units included with the sale. Whitewater Shopping Centre is Ireland’s largest regional shopping centre with approximately 300,000 sq. ft. of retail space.
 
The quoting price, in excess of €150 million, equates to a net initial yield of approximately 7.5%.With an attractive Weighted Average Unexpired Lease Term (WAULT) in excess of 11 years, this top quality investment is expected to attract significant levels of interest from domestic and international investors looking for a quality retail investment with scale in a large and affluent catchment area.
 
The Shopping Centre is located in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Newbridge is within the Dublin commuter-belt, approximately 50 km south-west of Dublin City Centre. The area is excellently connected by both road and rail services. As a result, the Newbridge/Naas area has emerged as a hub of industry, attracting many global firms such as Kerry Group, Intel, Oral B, Newbridge Silverware and Pfizer choosing to locate here. The area is also renowned for being the ‘Home of Irish Horse Racing’ and the location of the Irish Army’s largest military base, both of which stimulate growth in the local economy. Kildare is world famous for staging the most exciting horse racing events in Ireland. The Curragh, Punchestown and Naas racecourses attract people from all over the world who come to see the top international horses and jockeys compete in races throughout the year. Highlights include all five Irish Classic races which run at the Curragh and the Irish National Hunt Festival at Punchestown. Other local thoroughbred attractions include The Irish National Stud and Goffs International Sales Complex.
 
Whitewater Shopping Centre benefits from a significant catchment area of over 310,000.Shoppers enjoy a strong tenant line up, with a mix of European and UK High Street fashion as well asleading Irish brands. The centre is anchored by Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Zara and H&M,and other significant tenants include Boots, New Look, River Island, Eason and Odeon Cinema.
 
Whitewater has established itself as the central focal point for the town centre and is complemented by an extensive range of additional shopping and leisure amenities. Accessed from Main Street and Cutlery Road, Whitewater is situated adjacent to TK Maxx, Penneys and The Courtyard Shopping Centre.
 
The property is generating a net operating income of approximately €11.7 million per annum.  Of this,87% is generated from the shopping centre tenants and the remainder is generated from the car park and residential units. The prospect for a purchaser to grow this income in the short term is very positive with both footfall and consequently turnover improving markedly in Whitewater over the past 24 months. In addition there are a number of new letting prospects, which will further enhance yield prospects. 
 
The majority of leases are effectively full repairing and insuring by means of a comprehensive service charge.  Approximately 25 of the tenancies incorporate turnover provisions providing potential income growth beyond current levels.
 
The launch comes promptly on the back of the recent announcement that Hammerson and Allianz Real Estate have agreed to acquire the Project Jewel portfolio of loans secured against prime retail assets in Dublin, such as Dundrum Town Centre, and part ownerships of the ILAC Shopping Centre and the Pavilions Shopping Centre in Swords.
 
Savills and London based Coady Supple are handling the sales process on behalf of the co-owners and commented that:  “The sale of Whitewater Shopping Centre has been keenly anticipated by many domestic and international investors looking for scale and security but potentially not willing to compete for the enormous scale which was offered through Project Jewel. Based on the trends we are seeing both in Ireland and across Europe we believe this opportunity will command strong interest from domestic and global institutional capital, as well as a host of private equity investors who have been active in this sphere of late. Our in-house research teams are forecasting continued growth in the retail sector, all of which has been evidenced by the recent surge in activity within the sector.”