Cork's Opera Lane up for sale with €26m price tag

The Opera Lane investment offer includes key retailers including Next, Specsavers, H&M, Skechers, New Look, Thérapie, and Starbucks. Picture: Denis Minihane

Cork City’s newest shopping street, Opera Lane, is up for sale with a €26m price tag.

Opera Lane, which runs from St Patrick’s Street to Emmet Place and backs onto Academy St, was developed in the mid-2000s by the late Owen O’Callaghan.

The €26.75m sale via agents Cushman & Wakefield includes the majority of the shops, but excludes numbers 12-14 — Top Shop, which is not currently trading, and River Island.

Cushman and Wakefield last month sold Douglas Village Shopping Centre for €23m, and also have Debenhams Cork — the city’s biggest empty store — under advanced negotiation.

At Opera Lane, the investment offer includes key retailers, Next, Specsavers, H&M, Skechers, New Look, Thérapie, and Starbucks. 

“The Patrick's Street revival is very much happening with new retail entries and the imminent redevelopment of Penneys, and the former Debenhams properties,” said Peter O’Flynn, MD of Cushman & Wakefield’s Cork office.

“Patrick's Street is currently experiencing a revival in retail fortunes. This is due to continue with the ongoing sale of the former Debenhams Store which is at an advanced stage,” said Mr O’Flynn, who described the location as “the nucleus of the city.” 

The Opera Lane investment offer includes key retailers, Next, Specsavers, H&M, Skechers, New Look, Therapie, and Starbucks. Picture: Denis Minihane.

“The general feeling within the industry is that city centre retailing is being revived,” he said. 

"A similar transformation has taken place in Dublin’s Grafton Street over the last 18 months, with most of the vacant units now back in frontline retail use."

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Spanish fashion retail giant Mango has inked a deal to open a new store on Patrick St in what has been hailed as a major boost for the main street.

The deal will see the Barcelona-headquartered global chain make a welcome return to Cork 15 years after it quit the city in a failed franchise operation. The new store will operate out of Nos 106-108, the former Quills outlet, which has been vacant since 2014.