One of the few remaining opportunities to buy retail units with tax breaks will arise shortly in the Dublin docklands when 12 new buildings with a total floor area of 18,000 sq ft are offered for sale through Douglas Newman Good Commercial.

The stores are located in the first two phases of Custom House Square, the largest apartment development in the docks where 260 homes are nearing completion and another 370 are due to be built over the next two years.

Ben Pearson of Douglas Newman Good Commercial is inviting offers for the 12 self-contained units which will be available for sale and for rent. Units will be handed over in shell condition and are expected to sell for up to £600 per sq ft plus VAT and to rent for over £35 per sq ft. Chesterbridge Developments has drawn up a list of proposed uses for the units, which will range from a mobile phone outlet with 785 sq ft up to a convenience store with 3,000 sq ft. Units have also been set aside for use as a bank branch, pharmacy, coffee shop and sandwich bar. Other users being sought include the operators of a video store, hair salon, print shops, laundrette/ dry cleaning, florist, optician and beauty salon.

A strong selling point for the development will be the valuable tax reliefs, which will be available to purchasers, owner-occupiers and tenants. Owner-occupiers and purchasers will be able to claim about 90 per cent of the cost in capital allowances. An allowance of 54 per cent of the cost can be claimed in the first year and 4 per cent in subsequent years.

While office tenants in the extension to the International Financial Services Centre are to have their double rent allowances reduced to four years because of the intervention of the EU, retail tenants will be allowed to claim both double rent allowances and rates relief for the full 10 years.

With around 7,000 people now working in the IFSC, there are regular complaints about the restricted shopping facilities in the docks area. By the time the 12-acre extension to the IFSC is completed at the end of 2001, it is estimated that 11,000 people will be working in the area. Custom House Square adjoins Citibank's new 250,000 sq ft building, the second largest modern office complex in the city. Solicitors A & L Goodbody have also moved into a new building while two other blocks, AIG House and Guild House, are to accommodate a range of leading financial companies.