A good fit for investor

Recently vacated by clothes retailer Quills, nos 106/107 Patrick Street, Cork City, are selling for €1.95m.

THE Cork City centre building occupied for circa 25 years by clothes retailer, Quills, has come up for sale via a receiver, just a week after the Munster firm ceased trading at this one outlet. The family-owned business, Quills, in operation since 1938, continues to trade online and at its other premises, in Killarney, Bantry, Glengarriff, Kenmare and Sneem, where it specialises in woollens, knitwear and tourist items.

Pitched at investors, possibly with new retailers in tow, the property, nos 106/107 Patrick Street, next to the revamped Dunnes Stores flagship store and the Savoy Centre, has a €1.95m price, quoted by Lisney. It comes for sale on the instructions of Michael Cotter, of Ernst and Young, receiver over the assets of Quills Holdings Ltd, one of a number of Quills companies.

It’s a prime trading pitch on Patrick Street, opposite Brown Thomas and Debenhams, and Quills had been in situ for several decades, expanding out of the former Lester’s chemist, over several floors; at one stage it went back into sections of the 1932-built former Savoy cinema, redeveloped for retail by Robin Power in the late 1970s, and refurbished twice in the 2000s.

Billing it as a landmark corner building in a prime pitch, agents Margaret Kelleher and David McCarthy, of Lisney say it has almost 3,500 sq ft, with just over 1,000 sq ft at ground level, with lift and stair access to the more expansive upper floors, all air-conditioned. It’s most likely to be of interest to fashion and footwear retailers, and if bought by an investor should rent for circa €150,000 pa.

As international interest is being shown in a number of other vacant Patrick Street units, with deals on several pending, via Savills, the sale of nos 106/107 Patrick Street “is a unique opportunity to acquire a property for owner occupancy or investment on Cork City’s main thoroughfare,” says Ms Kelleher.

Details: Lisney, 021-4275079