It was announced today that JLL and HWBC are offering the opportunity to acquire the largest retail scheme north of Cork City. Blackpool Shopping Centre and Retail Park offers an investor a stake in Ireland’s second largest city, Cork.  
 
Blackpool’s catchment attracts a wide geographic area to the north and north west of the city. The total catchment incorporates a population in excess of 400,000 people, CACI calculate the available Comparison Goods spend as in excess of €900m. The Centre is ranked third in Cork after the City Centre and Mahon Point to the South and achieves market shares in excess of 40%. 
 
Blackpool is the only shopping centre north of the city offering a high concentration of international & nationally recognised retailers including Dunnes Stores, New Look, Heaton’s, Next, Aldi, Woodies DIY, amongst others. The annual net operating income is currently €7.38 m per annum with a WAULT of approx 6.13 years.
 
According to John Moran of JLL and Tony Waters of HWBC, "Blackpool Shopping Centre and Retail Park is a dominant retail scheme of significant scale providing secure cash flows from an excellent tenant line up.  JLL and HWBC are guiding in excess of €117m which will provide an investor with a commencing return of over 6% with opportunities to grow the return through further asset management initiatives and rental growth.  We believe the investment will be of interest to a wide variety of both domestic and international buyers ranging from core capital to value add players."

Source: www.businessworld.ie