Legacy furniture superstore The Loft hits the market for €6m

Vendors the Herlihy family have prepared a preliminary scheme for a mixed use development with a focus on student accommodation

The Loft

THE Loft, a landmark Cork city centre furniture store with strong development potential, has hit the market with a €6m guide price.

The vendors of the well-known premises, the Herlihy family, have already run the rule over potential future uses — guided by Douglas Wallace Architects — and have prepared a preliminary scheme for a mixed-use project that includes retail space and student accommodation.

Rodney Herlihy said a lot of thought and early design work had gone into exploring options for the substantial 21,000 sq ft premises on a high-profile 0.5a (0.2ha) site, between Cornmarket St and North Main St.

“We were fortunate to have architectural input and design from the late Hugh Wallace, whose vision helped shape the initial concept for the site,” Mr Herlihy said.

The owners and their professional team recently held what they described as a “positive” pre-planning consultation with Cork City Council in respect of the proposed development, which the owners said was “a carefully considered architectural intervention that seeks to respond respectfully to the historical, urban, and human context of this prominent city centre location”.

The proposed redevelopment of what is a protected structure includes the retention of the existing elevations of The Loft building on Cornmarket St and North Main St and would comprise a part three, part five, and part seven-storey building, featuring communal amenity spaces in three courtyards, a public outdoor seating area, general landscaping, and boundary treatments.

Mr Herlihy said as “a substantial amount of preparatory work” was already completed, it would enable the purchaser “to move forward quickly”. A comprehensive pre-planning pack for the potential development — which is subject to planning permission — is available.

While the current proposal is for ground floor retail and 206 student bedspaces, Mr Herlihy said the property was “sufficiently flexible to accommodate a range of alternative uses, including hotel or hostel development, subject to planning permission”.

Its versatility should “broaden its appeal to a wide range of local and international investors”, he added.

Front facade of The Loft Furniture Superstore

The site is zoned ‘ZO 5, City Centre’ under the Cork City Development Plan 2022 — 2028 where primary uses, include, but are not limited to, retail, residential uses, community uses, offices, hotels, cultural and leisure facilities, education and healthcare institutions and facilities, and uses that contribute to ‘the vibrancy and diversity of the city centre’.

The current proposal’s focus on student accommodation is against a backdrop of an acute undersupply of Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) in Cork, a university city with 29,000 fulltime students, where recent research by commercial real estate agents Knight Frank/Sherry FitzGerald indicates that there are 3.5 students for every one PBSA bedspace available.

In recent years there’s been a strong focus on delivery of PBSA in the city with close to 3,500 new student beds delivered since September 2019.

 The appetite for this type of development shows little sign of abating: In February, builder/developer BAM lodged a planning application for a 503-bed student accommodation on Sullivan’s Quay, on the site previously occupied by the now demolished tax office. Closer to The Loft, on North Main St, occupancy looks strong at 279-bed Coleman Court PBSA, completed by BMOR in 2023.

Sherry FitzGerald’s new commercial arm, Knight Frank, who are representing The Loft’s vendors, said the site’s city-centre location should mean “a strong prospect for the scheme to be used for short term tourist or visitor accommodation outside of academic term times” — if new owners opted to pursue PBSA.

David McCarthy, of Knight Frank, said notwithstanding the owners positive engagement with the council with regard to the potential development of a PBSA scheme, it was their opinion that there would be support for a broad range of alternative uses that align with the Cork City Development Plan goals for compact growth and mixed-use generation, given the site’s strategic location, combined with its city centre zoning.

“The site can accommodate high quality development that will contribute positively to the urban fabric and meet market demand for centrally located accommodation such as PRS (private rented sector) and hospitality services such as a boutique hotel, micro hostel and aparthotel,” Mr McCarthy said.

Artist's impression of what a Loft conversion to student accommodation might look like

The up-for-sale premises — a mainly single storey, part two-storey building, with an external car park area to the north of the store — sits on what was historically known as Peter’s Bazaar, a market-style complex close to the Bazaar Market on North Main St, developed by Cork Corporation in the 1840s and opened in 1851. Over time, Peter’s Bazaar evolved and was redeveloped into a more conventional retail space, with The Loft becoming the main occupier. The premises — which has dual frontage onto Cornmarket St and North Main St — is close to the former Square Deal premises on Washington St, which members of the Herlihy family sold for a reported €5m in 2017 and which has since been redeveloped as Bróga House, a €35m PBSA, backed by global real estate investment firm Round Hill Capital and managed by UK-based student accommodation provider Nido, who also manage other student schemes in Cork City.

Bróga House on Washington St was formerly Square Deal furniture store and is now student accommodation Picture: Dan Linehan

The Loft is close to where Cork City Council has recently invested in a city centre regeneration project on Grand Parade and South Main St, with the latter street in the running for a new event centre. UCC is approximately 1km from the site.

Mr McCarthy said the property “presents a very rare opportunity to acquire a substantial high-profile site and deliver a landmark city centre scheme of significant scale”.

“We expect strong interest from local, domestic, and international parties,” he said.

Cornmarket St itself has seen some significant regeneration and is poised for more if developer Denis McBarron goes ahead with proposals to convert the former Paintwell store by Portney's Lane into apartments and a café, for which he has permission.

'Shawlies' during a busy Christmas week on Cornmarket St/Coal Quay, 1933. The premises now known as The Loft is in the background, left.

Cornmarket St runs into the historic Coal Quay area, which was traditionally home to street traders, many of whom were “shawlies” —female traders who wore black shawls over their head and shoulders.

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