Hot on the heels of the sale of the Renault garage, Carrigeen, Clonmel, we have let the former Nest Boutique, in Mitchell St, Clonmel.
This 3-storey shop premises incorporates a Ground Floor of 1,400sq ft, Basement of 550sq ft, 1st & 2nd floor of 1,000sq ft each.
It is a double-fronted unit with a huge profile to Mitchell and Abbey St.
Fitting out starts next week.
The Clonmel commercial market continues to recover.
Following our recent lettings in The Ormonde Centre, to DV8 and 6th Sense, we have now finalised a sale of the former Renault Garage at Carrigeen, Clonmel.
Comprising a state-of-the-art 8,000sq ft car showroom and workshop, on a high-profile 1 acre site, close to Tesco on the N24, this is one of the premier commercial locations in South Tipperary.
The property met with many and varied interests. The eventual purchaser will reveal his plans for the property in due course.
TIM O'BRIEN
THE KILDARE Village outlet centre has been told that selling up-to-the minute fashions is in breach of its planning permission, planning sources have confirmed.
The determination from An Bord Pleanála was sought by rival retailer David Jones, who operates a number of shops at the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare.
The board’s decision, taken at a meeting at the end of May, effectively ruled that Kildare Village centre had only planning permission to sell out-of-season clothes at discount rates and that sales of new products and in-season merchandise in the centre “would constitute a change of use”.
The board said the original permission for the outlet centre had been contingent on it not introducing new products which would be in competition with high street locations.
This was in the interest of protecting existing retail cores in towns and villages, in compliance with traffic management and retail planning guidelines.
Kildare Village is home to some of the best-known fashion brands and regularly offers discounts in the order of 60 per cent. Brands include Polo Ralph Lauren, Furla and DKNY, while internationally renowned Irish fashion designer Louise Kennedy has also opened a unit there.
The village is one of a collection of nine such operations across Europe, operated by Value Retail. Founded in 1992, Value Retail has about 900 outlet boutiques featuring leading fashion and lifestyle brands, located close to some of Europe’s capital cities and intended to be destinations in their own right.
The Whitewater Shopping Centre is Ireland’s largest regional shopping centre and is in the centre of Newbridge.
It incorporates more than 70 top stores including Debenhams, Marks Spencer, Zara and HM, as well as well-known high street brands such as Karen Millen, Coast, Tommy Hilfiger and Pepe.
According to planning sources, the determination from the board is not the first time out-of-town shopping centres have been corrected for breaching conditions on the type of goods offered.
However, the sources said enforcement could be problematic, requiring as it would a specialised knowledge of fashion and retail.
Globally, the housing market has weakened further, with prices stalled or sliding downwards in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest global house price index report from international property consultancy Knight Frank.Global house prices increased by only 1.8 per cent in the year to March, the lowest annual rate of growth recorded since the fourth quarter of 2009.
House prices in half of the 50 countries surveyed in the index remained flat or saw negative growth in the first three months of this year, compared to only 18 countries a year earlier.
The survey found that Ireland was 48th on the global scale, with a recorded drop in property prices of 4.5 per cent in the first three months of this year.
The biggest drop was in Russia, where house prices fell by 13.7 per cent in the same period. Malta was just above Ireland’s drop, at 4.1 per cent.
Year on year Ireland’s prices have fallen by 11.9 per cent, with Russia’s decrease higher at 13.9 per cent. Dubai house prices fell by 8.2 per cent for the year, putting it ahead of Ireland in the index.
On the worldwide scale, Russia lies below Ireland in the rankings, with Dubai just ahead at number 47 with a small increase of 0.6 per cent for the first quarter.
The strongest performing countries were Hong Kong (24.2 per cent increase), where the government is fighting to pull inflationary pressures under control; India (21.9 per cent) and Taiwan (14.3 per cent).
Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank, said globally, price growth had faltered highlighting ongoing problems underlying the world’s housing markets.
GORDON DEEGAN and CIARÁN HANCOCK
STARBUCKS LOSSES in Ireland moved from tall to grande size last year due to costs associated with the closure of six company-owned outlets.
Latest accounts for Starbucks Coffee Company (Ireland) Ltd show its pre-tax losses doubled to €3.28 million in the 53 weeks to the end of October 3rd, 2010.Revenues at the Seattle-based coffee brand, which opened here in 2005, fell by 10 per cent last year to €16.1 million.
Its cost of sales and administrative expenses remained the same as in 2009, with the result that its operating loss rose to €2.88 million last year from €1.2 million in the previous 12 months.
The coffee giant booked a loss on the disposal of fixed assets of €117,389 and incurred interest charges of €286,806, to leave it with a loss for the year of €3.28 million for the year.
Starbucks's Irish subsidiary had accumulated losses of €12.5 million at last October and a shareholders' deficit of €8.3 million.
The accounts show the Irish company paid royalties and licence fees of €875,303 last year to its Seattle-based parent. This was down from €1.14 million in 2009.
Its employee figure fell to 234 from 280, with staff costs down from €6.1 million to €5.2 million.
The directors' report states that the company introduced Aviva health insurance policies for staff during the period.
It was also "able to redeploy 90 per cent" of staff who were at risk of redundancy from its decision to cut the number of company-owned outlets from 23 to 17.
Starbucks' Irish subsidiary owed just under €11 million to other companies within the group.
A note to the financial statements says Starbucks has told its Irish subsidiary it will not seek repayment of the intercompany loans before May 20th, 2012.
It also plans to continue to support the Irish subsidiary as a going concern over this period.
The first Starbucks store opened in Seattle in 1971 and the Starbucks corporation was established in 1985. It has 16,858 stores worldwide employing 137,000 and last year had revenues of $10.7 billion (€7.4 billion).
Monday June 20 2011
UP to 8,000 landlords getting state payments will be warned in the coming weeks to register their properties or face prosecution.
The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) last night said it planned a major crackdown on non-compliant landlords, with eight to be prosecuted next month.
And chief executive Ann Marie Caulfield said the agency had received data about landlords in receipt of state payments from the Department of Social Protection and local authorities, and would begin checking all to confirm they had registered their properties.
Failure to register can result in a fine of up to €3,000 and/or six months imprisonment, plus daily fines of €250.
The move comes after the Irish Independent last week revealed that the State paid more than €250m last year to thousands of unregistered landlords.
Half of the landlords who get rent supplement payments -- which can be as high as €1,100 a month -- from the Department of Social Protection do not have their properties registered with the PRTB, despite being legally obliged to do so.
Rent supplement is paid out to tenants who can no longer meet the cost of their rent because of a change in circumstances. The tenants then pass the money on to the landlord.
The PRTB now has seven people working full-time on enforcement, and will meet its solicitors tomorrow to discuss mounting prosecutions.
"We would see prosecutions as a last resort," Ms Caulfield said. "We wrote to 6,000 landlords in recent weeks advising them of the consequences (of not registering), and we will be sending more letters out shortly.
Penalty
"We'll be meeting with our solicitors tomorrow with a view to taking prosecutions. It's quite a severe penalty so we want people to try and mend their ways.
"We would have been doing a lot of chasing, but now we're getting tough on these guys.
"They should know they have to register, there's no excuse. People will be in for a nasty shock."
The agency will use data on the second-home tax, Rental Accommodation Scheme payments made by local authorities, and rent supplement payments made by the Department of Social Protection to identify offenders.
A change in the law will also allow them to get data from the Revenue Commissioners.
The PRTB has secured seven criminal convictions in the last six months against landlords. One landlord was sent to jail for 35 days.
Summonses have been issued against another eight landlords, who will appear in court next month.
The agency has recently received data on 17,000 landlords in receipt of payments from the Department of Social Protection.
Up to half may not be registered, and they will receive warning letters in the coming weeks.
The crackdown comes at the same time as a Revenue Commissioners probe of landlords to ensure that they are tax compliant.
Data from a number of sources -- including taxpayers' claims for the rent tax credit, PRTB registrations, information from the HSE and Department of Social Protection on rent subsidies, data on the second-home tax and "local intelligence" -- is being used to check that landlords are paying tax, along with door-to-door checks.
The State paid out €516m in rent supplement payments last year, and expects the bill for 2011 to reach €465.5m.
The high rate of non-compliance means these landlords may have received up to €260m in payments in 2010.
- Paul Melia
Irish Independent
6th Sense open their Clonmel store in The Ormonde Centre, Gladstone St, Clonmel at 11am today, Friday 10th June.
Extending to 2,500 sq ft, this unit forms part of the frontage to Gladstone St, together with DV8.
6th Sense sell high-end clothing at a reasonable price, offering excellent value.
We acted for the landlord in this transaction.
Best of luck to all concerned.
A new shoe shop, “Put your foot in it”, has opened today in the Marystone Centre, Clonmel.
Operated by long-time Clonmel trader, Michael Sweetman, it stocks modern footwear at an affordable price.
A bright and trendy fit-out, with lots of stock augurs well for the success of this venture.
We acted for the landlord in this transaction.
6th Sense are almost ready to open their latest outlet at The Ormonde Centre, Gladstone St, Clonmel.
They will open for trade on this Friday, 9th June.
Occupying 2,500sq ft facing onto Gladstone St, this unit joins DV8 as the second retailer to open in this centre.
Pending deals involve a multi-store retailer, a coffee shop and a convenience store.
Internal pics (and one external of the new shoe shop due to open this coming weekend in the Marystone Centre, Clonmel.
All it needs now is the stockJ
Best of luck to all concerned.
CONOR POPE, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
A LARGE terraced house on Villiers Road, Rathgar, Dublin, and a four-bedroom bungalow on close to an acre in the foothills of the Dublin mountains are among the highlights at the next Allsop-Space auction, which takes place next month.
The Rathgar house is divided into five self-contained flats. It would have commanded a price of close to €2 million at the height of the property boom, but has had its maximum reserve set at €495,000.
The property on Kilternan’s Ballycorus Road would have sold for well in excess of €1 million in 2006, but will go up for auction with a reserve price of €450,000.
A pub in Waterford city centre is also set to go under the hammer with a reserve of €180,000 and a large detached house on the outskirts of Kilkenny has had its maximum reserve set at €400,000.
A large period redbrick on Ailesbury Road with a reserve of €1.45 million will almost certainly be one of the most sought after lots at the auction which takes place in the Shelbourne Hotel on July 7th. Houses on the road changed hands for more than €10 million at the height of the boom.
There was a huge level of interest in the first Allsop-Space property auction at the end of April, and those bidding on the 82 properties spilled on to the street in front of the hotel at one point.
“The April success means we have been inundated with banks and receivers looking to come on board to free up capital by auctioning off their property stocks,” Stephen McCarthy of Space auctioneers said.
“This means the second auction features a broader mix of lots from different receivers on behalf of a number of financial institutions.”
At the last fire sale, all but one of 82 lots of apartments and houses sold under the hammer, at an average of 26 per cent above the maximum reserve price. In total, €15 million was realised. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) was said to have been the main seller on that occasion.
Mr McCarthy said many buyers had secured properties at “unprecedented prices since the market dip”. A Chancery Street apartment sold for just below the upper reserve at €159,000 while a property on Raglan Lane in Dublin 4 went for €550,000, 8 per cent below the upper reserve.
Forty-five properties in the latest distressed auction will be in Dublin, with the majority expected to be apartments.
A two-bedroom apartment in a fresh tranche of units in the Castleforbes development in Dublin’s north docklands will have a reserve of €142,000.
PARIS luxury-home prices rose by more than a fifth in just 12 months -- the most in the world -- as buyers from emerging markets competed for a limited number of properties, auctioneer Knight Frank said.
Values of houses and apartments costing more than €2m increased 22pc in the French capital. Hong Kong was second with a 15pc rise, and Helsinki third with 12pc. Shanghai and Beijing completed the top five. Moscow and Los Angeles were the only cities in the 15-strong survey to post declines. Dublin was not included.
Buyers from Brazil, Russia, India and China "are increasingly looking to Paris as a safe haven to invest funds in a mature and high-performing market", Liam Bailey, head of residential research, said. "Like London, supply is hindered by a paucity of new-build developments."
Measures by Asian governments to curb property speculation appear to be working, with luxury-home prices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore growing 11pc as a group in the first quarter, compared with 55pc a year earlier, Mr Bailey said.
London prices gained 8.6pc, putting the city in a tie for sixth with Singapore. Zurich followed with an 8pc increase.
The index compares the performance of prime housing markets, defined as the top 5pc to 10pc of the mainstream market, in key global cities.
"Our view is that the next property cycle -- which has already started -- will see the consolidation of an elite tier of global city markets, where the top addresses will become increasingly fought over by wealthy buyers as stores of value and long-term secure investments," Mr Bailey added.
"Values will rise from here. It won't be a steady upward path, and there are some considerable risks out there -- from sovereign debt in the west to asset bubbles and hot money in the east. But in the last two years the highest price achieved in the global market has breached the £557 (€625) per square metre barrier," he said.
- Thomas Molloy
Irish Independent
Department of Finance Monthly Economic Bulletin - June 2011
The Department of Finance published its Monthly Economic Bulletin for June recently. Some of the key data is as follows:
In the first 4 months of 2011 3,629 houses were completed. This represents a 26% decline in house completions compared to the same period in 2010.
The full report is available here
