Retail focus is back on Cork's city centre after Fraser Group's expansion to Mahon Point

After the jobs-saving coup by the suburban Mahon Point, Cork city now needs the breaks: agents say the next year will see an improvement

WITH the largest Munster retail development of recent years just secured at Cork’s Mahon Point Shopping Centre, where the Fraser Group/Sports Direct is to take 75,000sq ft vacated in the past year by Debenhams, it’s now all eyes on Cork’s troubled St Patrick’s Street and city core, as a pick-up in occupancy is predicted by next year.

Retail jobs on the way back to the former Debenhams unit at Mahon Point, to be anchored by the Fraser Group on ground level and Sports Direct upstairs. Pic: Larry Cummins

The news of the UK-based Fraser Group’s overall 150,000sq ft deals at Mahon Point and Whitewater Centre in Kildare, with landlords Deka via their agents Savills (with Cushman & Wakefield for the Fraser Group), is a welcome boost for retail jobs, indicating a faith in bricks-and-mortar sales as well as online activity.

Among those who also looked at Mahon’s shuttered Debenhams’ store now taken by Fraser Group were Marks & Spencer, and sportswear and equipment retailer Decathlon.

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Penneys forges ahead with big expansion plans for Cork's St Patrick's Street

It’s understood that the two-level Mahon footprint, anchoring Munster’s largest retail centre, also caught the attention of Penneys/Primark, which already trades in Wilton and the city centre and this week finally lodges a planning application for its expanded Cork city centre store on St Patrick’s Street, Cook Street and Oliver Plunkett Street. Penneys is set to grow 50% to 54,000sq ft after a lengthy site assembly (see separate story on this page.)

Key to the deal with the very active Fraser Group at Mahon was the fact that it was also prepared to commit to a similar amount of space at Kildare’s Whitewater Centre, which has the same landlord, German fund Deka, says Peter O’Meara, director of Savills, Cork.

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley in 2016. Photo credit: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

He said that having seen what the company did at its latest Fraser store in Wolverhampton in the UK, a very high standard of fit-out could be expected for Cork/Mahon, while C&W’s Karl Stewart said Fraser would bring a real sense of freshness and excitement to the centre.

A major European retail force, the Fraser Group (incorporating the former House of Fraser, now owned by Mike Ashley of Sports Direct) is also due to open on Cork City’s St Patrick’s Street at the Eason building, with Eason relocating.

Initially thought to be for its Sports Direct range, the Eason property opposite Debenhams may instead be occupied by the Fraser Group’s expanding fashion brand, Flannels, with no firm decision confirmed to date.

Fraser Group will open at Mahon Point early next year, at first-floor level in a high-end fit-out to include a beauty hall. Before that, it will open a Sports Direct on the first-floor level prior to Christmas.

Fraser Group’s James France said the deals in Cork and Kildare marked “a pivotal moment for the group as we continue to demonstrate our commitment to bricks and mortar, and prove our investment into major retail destinations and the retail market in Ireland”.

Meanwhile, also in the city centre, the Savoy Centre at one end is set for redevelopment for new model, post-pandemic retailing in a blend of online and physical store experiences while the Queens Old Castle at the other end of the city centre is to get a mixed development that will include offices.

Among the names thought to be looking for a premises in Cork City are Asics; Inditex brands such as Pull & Bear and on-again, off-again Zara; and Liverpool FC, with the latter just going for a short-term let. Decathlon is also seeking a 30,000sq ft Cork presence, in the city or out of town.

Penneys/Primark on St  Patrick's Street is being redeveloped to span 54,000 sq ft after a site assembly costing over €30 million

Also expected to be in the hunt for a store in Cork is American Eagle, which opened this month in Dublin’s Jervis St and is also going to Kildare’s Whitewater Centre, while Hollister and Mango are also expanding in Ireland.

Monsoon season? Former Victoria Hotel at Cook Street/ Patrick Street, vacated by Monsoon, is due to be redeveloped by this year's end

Meanwhile, midway on St Patrick’s Street, next to the Penneys site, redevelopment of the former Victoria Hotel/Monsoon ground unit is well advanced, with 5,000sq ft ready for occupancy by year’s end, to be let via Savills jointly with Bannon Commercial. 

The Victoria Hotel, St. Patrick's Street, Cork pictured in Nov. 1970

There are suggestions of residential development overhead to follow, accessed off Cook St in a redevelopment by the building’s long-term owner, Joe Donnolly.

Elsewhere, new tenants are also being sought for Topshop on Opera Lane, where Gap is also due to close up later this year as Gap transitions to online only.

Deflated: the 2009 opening of the GAP store at Opera Lane, Cork. Pic Denis Scannell

Savills’ Lia Dennehy and Mr O’Meara expressed positive hopes for a city centre bounce-back by 2022, as the estate agency reports early international brand inquiries on the vacated four-storey 20,700sq ft former Topshop unit 14 on Opera Lane.

Reckoned to be one of the best-profile modern stores in the city centre, it’s at the junction with Emmet Place and faces the Crawford Art Gallery, where a €25m makeover is to start soon, overseen by leading designer Grafton Architects.

“That’s a key attraction for retailers now; it’s all about the city experience, it’s not just shop after shop,” notes Mr O’Meara, saying culture, food and other ‘experience’ offers are a vital part of a future mix for cities to attract visitors, shoppers and locals.

Although not officially confirmed, it’s likely rents on the large, multi-level Opera Lane unit are being pitched at about €475,000 a year, well down on the c€700,000 rent paid by Topshop.

Topshop closed as part of the troubled Arcadia Group international difficulties, affecting 80 Irish stores, including Dorothy Perkins/Evans and others across a number of the group’s brands.

Gap is set to follow Topshop’s departure before the end of the year, leaving another sizeable hole on Opera Lane, about 10,000sq ft.

It’s an occupiers’/tenants’ market given the scale of vacancy on and around St Patrick Street, about 13% of units by shutter count (see vacancy story on this page), with the largest hole being the 150,000sq ft vacated by Debenhams store/former Roches Stores.

Storm clouds: Roches Stores image from 2001

That premises needs a new direction and repurposing, with banks, KPMG/receivers, the Roche family and others — plus the city and Cork itself — all with a stake in its future.