GENERAL Accident (GA), the giant life assurance company, is to provide most of the funding for the proposed Quarryvale Shopping Centre in west Dublin, at a cost of £90 million sterling.
The investment will produce a yield of around 7 per cent.
The three anchor stores are already committed to leading UK multiples, Marks and Spencer, Boots and C & A. Because of the huge demand expected for the remaining 50 shop units, the joint letting agents, Hamilton Osborne King and Hillier Parker, are likely to allocate them on an invitation basis.
Work has already begun on the 252,000 sq ft shopping centre which will be strategically located at the fulcrum of the Western Parkway (M50) and the Galway road (N4). The complex is due to open in October 1998.
GA's decision to fund the development comes exactly a year after the Duke of Westminster's property company, Grosvenor Estates, took a majority stake in the project at a cost of around £60 million.
Grosvenor is to retain a minority stake of 20 per cent and will develop the centre along with the Cork based businessman, Mr Owen O'Callaghan. Mr O'Callaghan's interest will also be 20 per cent, while the remaining 60 per cent is now owned by GA.
Grosvenor is the main beneficiary of the GA deal, managing to sell on most of its investment at what is understood to be a significant profit, within 12 months of making its first foray into the Irish commercial property market.
Grosvenor approached a range of funds before agreeing terms with GA.
GA will have a rent roll of around £8 million from Quarryvale where Zone A rents will be around £120 per square foot compared to £90 in Blanchardstown Town Centre and £160 in Grafton Street.
The rents will the highest in an Irish shopping centre primarily because of the strong line up of anchor tenants and the fact that the planners have capped the size of the retail development.
Marks and Spencer is paying around £9 million for its huge 90,000 sq ft unit, its first out of town store in the Republic. C & A has also bought its 20,000 sq ft; store and Boots is to rent 25,000 sq ft on one level.
The decision to allocate the last anchor store to Boots rather than Quinnsworth means that Quarryvale will be the first large shopping complex in Ireland opting to trade without a supermarket.
Quinnsworth had been involved in lengthy negotiations to buy a 30,000 sq ft store to trade alongside Marks and Spencer.
GA will control about one third of the 178 acre site at Quarryvale and it is thought likely that once the main shopping centre is trading, it will seek planning permission for a large stand alone food store with at least 70,000 sq ft of space and around 500 car parking spaces.
Such a facility would be favoured by Tesco to launch its own brand of shopping in Ireland.
Quarryvale will be in direct competition with The Square in Tallaght and with the Blanchardstown Town Centre which has been trading strongly since it opened last October.
The sale to GA does not affect the remainder of the Quarryvale site where planning permission has already been granted for a 150 bedroom hotel, a multiplex cinema, public house and drive through restaurant.
