Changes on South Mall

Marketing the 1,500 sq ft of ground floor showroom/office at 80A South Mall, also known as Hibernian House, are Declan Hickey and John Downing of Downing Commercial.

The suite (vacated by a property sales and letting firm) is bright and adaptable — and could catch the eye of some type of retail type of user, subject to planning, given the evolving nature of occupiers on the Mall, which now includes shops, bars/cafe restaurants and florists Best of Buds, plus a new bridal boutique which took 700 sq ft of first floor space at 47 South Mall, over an estate agency.

Hibernian House, is home to about 20,000 sq ft of offices taken by the Department of Agriculture.

Letting agents Downing Commercial have 16,000 sq ft available here: some 1,500 at ground level with cellular office quoting €18 psf, plus 6,700 sq ft at first floor level and over 8,000 sq ft at second level, both at €15 psf.

Agent John Downing says the mix offers “potential tenants the chance to locate in the heart of Cork’s business district in quality office accommodation at a reasonable price.”

Meanwhile, also making a move onto South Mall is insurance company Axa, leaving No 13 Oliver Plunkett Street after 39 years in occupation. It’s taking 3,000 sq ft at No 52 South Mall, under overhead office currently occupied by KBC bank, who may be about to relocate to other ground floor space off the South Mall.

That 52 South Mall deal was done by Cohalan Downing, who had been seeking €16 psf.

Axa are currently fitting out No 52’s ground floor, and its Cork presence will see over 18 sales staff looking after three branch locations in Cork, in the city centre, Midleton and Bantry, said spokesperson John Cahalan. “We’re very committed to the branch network as a distribution channel, with the largest one in the country with 42 offices. This is contrary to what a lot of our competitors are doing; they are either closing their branch network or downsizing. We believe that it is very important to have a branch presence to complement our online channel and call centres. For us in AXA it is about having a presence in channels that our customers want to transact in as opposed to deciding for our customers which channel we would like them to transact in,” he added.

Agents Savills will begin marketing 13 Oliver Plunkett Street in the coming weeks.

Details: Downing Commercial on 021-4271000; Frank V Murphy & Co 021-4274204; Cohalan Downing 021-4277717; Savills 021-4271371.