Swiss investor roll continues with swoop on  Holland & Barrett's  Cork city buy

Low-key Swiss buyer gets good rent roll and 7.6% return on latest c €2.6m Patrick Street purchase

Holland & Barrett 43/44 Patrick Street Cork sold for €2.6m on a ten year lease from 2015

A SWISS investor is continuing a buying spree of Cork city centre properties, with a c €2.6m purchase in recent week on troubled retail boulevard Patrick’s Street.

The frequent visitor to Cork who has so far invested c €10m locally in a mix of buildings has bought the Holland & Barrett investment property at 43/44 Patrick Street, a double-fronted building.

The investor has previously bought smaller units on Patrick Street, facing Merchants Quay, an office block, Carbery House on South Mall, and a number of properties on Oliver Plunkett Street, including the almost completed refurbishment of No 57, the former O’Connors shoe shop at the junction with Princes Street, vacant since 2012 and with its feature classic 1960s green Vitrolite Pilkington glass façade.

Glass act: No. 57  Oliver Plunkett St., Cork. Picture Denis Minihane.

Back on Patrick Street, Nos 43/44 has  has 3,200 sq ft at ground level and almost 7,000 sq ft in all over four levels, at a 10% discount from its €3m+ asking price it had carried via selling agents Isobel O'Regan and Chris O'Callaghan of Savills.

The Holland & Barrett store is held on a ten year lease from 2015, at a rent of €215,000 pa by the 1870-founded health supplement company with 60 Irish stores and up to 1,300 internationally across 16 countries.

The concluded investment sale - at  c 7.5% NIY - comes at a time of mixed fortunes for Cork’s main trading street: a report this week from Lisney showed 21% vacancy on Cork’s Patrick Street, and 12% on Oliver Plunkett Street.

That’s versus 7.6% vacancy now on Dublin’s Grafton Street where a number (7) of new deals have recently been agreed, while Henry Street Dublin has a current vacancy of 13%, all on the number of unoccupied units, said Lisney.

The just sold Cork store/investment  is close to where North Face and Dune opened last year, next to  a relocated Eason and opposite Dubray books.

Dune and North Face have recently opened on St Patrick Street, Cork. Pic: Larry Cummins

Estate agent Dennis Guerin of Frank V Murphy & Co acted for the Swiss-based purchaser and has also previously advised him on a number of his other Cork purchases.

Most have been bought primarily for rental income but some – such as the €2m Carbery House office block on the South Mall corner with Cook Street, facing AIB HQ at No 66 - may have redevelopment scope for apartments.

At O’Connor’s/57 Oliver Plunkett Street, the overseas investor has created a two-bedroomed apartment as a ‘living over the shop’ adjunct, a still-rare feature on Cork’s retail thoroughfares where upper floor vacancy remains a sad norm despite an accommodation crisis.

Apartment going in overhead at No 57 Oliver Plunkett Street. Picture Denis Minihane.

On the larger front, the long-anticipated redevelopment and enlargement of the Penneys store between Patrick Street,  Oliver Plunkestt street and Cook Street has once again been deferred by An Bord Pleanala, while nearby the large Debenhams store (previously the landmark Roches Stores) remains shuttered pending a sale, via agents Cushman & Wakefield who have been seeking €20m+.

Adding to the mix too now is the this month by SuperValu to pull-out of their Merchants Quay supermarket, while Dunnes late last year opened a supermarket alongside it in the Merchants Quay setting in a space it had controlled for yearsbut which had lain idle following its opeing of a flagship store at 105-107 Patricks Street.

DETAILS: Savills 021-4271371 Frank V Murphy & Co 021-4275079.