Davy Real Estate seeking €17m for cinema at Blanchardstown Centre

While the sale of the Blanchardstown Centre continues to rumble on with no clear outcome in sight notwithstanding reports that Northwood Investors had pulled ahead of rival bidders with an offer of €580 million, the separate arrival of the scheme’s multiplex cinema to the market should prove to be a more straightforward affair.

The cinema is being offered for sale by agent Colliers on behalf of Davy Real Estate at a guide price of €17 million. The property incorporates both IMAX and iSense screens, and is leased to United Cinemas International (Ireland) Limited, which is part of Europe’s largest cinema operator the Odeon Cinemas Group. The tenant is not affected by the sale and there is a weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) to expiry (with no breaks) of 9.25 years.

The cinema’s nine screens are complemented by a coffee shop, serving counters, office space and back-of-house facilities, and extends across a total area of 4,228sq m (45,510sq ft).

The property occupies a high-profile position at the Blanchardstown Centre, which is Ireland’s largest retail scheme with some 112,000sq m (1.2 million sq ft) of retail space distributed across 180 shops. The centre, which is anchored by big retailers such as Dunnes Stores, Penneys and Marks & Spencer, also comprises three external retail parks, external retail units, an office block and 7,000 free car-parking spaces.

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Should a sale of the cinema proceed at the guide price of €17 million the purchaser would stand to secure a net initial yield of 7 per cent.

Niall Delmar of Colliers says: “This is an excellent opportunity to acquire a unique piece of real estate in one of Dublin’s best-established locations. We are expecting interest from both domestic and international investors owing to the strong lease fundamentals and future alternative-use angles in the unlikely event that the tenant does not seek to renew its lease.”

The parties still vying for ownership of the Blanchardstown Centre, meanwhile, are businessman Eamon Waters’ investment and property development company Sretaw PE, developer Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group, UBS, and three US-headquartered real estate investors, namely Northwood Investors, a subsidiary of Starwood Capital and Hines.

While it had been reported recently that Northwood was making an “aggressive” bid to buy the scheme, The Irish Times understands that the vendors have not entered into exclusive talks with them, and remain in contact with the other bidders.

The sale of the Blanchardstown Centre is being handled by Eastdil Secured and CBRE on behalf of Goldman Sachs which acquired the centre from US private equity giant Blackstone for €750 million in December 2020.