Blackpool Shopping Centre aims to be Munster’s go-to retail spot

Buoyant occupancy levels and a €1.5m upgrade in its 25th year are underpinning plans to turn Blackrock Shopping Centre and Retail Park into to one of Munster’s premier retail destinations.

The investment by Lugus Capital and Patron Capital follows their acquisition last year of the entire complex, which also includes office accommodation

Roger Dineen, head of commercial real estate with Lugus Capital, said the asset was attractive to them as it was the only shopping centre on Cork City’s northside and it was located in a rapidly expanding catchment area.

The Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr PJ Hourican cutting the tape to officially open the new Dunnes Stores in Blackpool Shopping Centre in 2000, watched by Joe Gavin, Cork City manager and the late Clayton Love jnr, developer. Picture: Richard Mills.

The Irish property investment and asset management firm bought the shopping centre and retail park last year for just under €50m in a joint venture with London-headquartered private equity firm Patron Capital. Mr Dineen said the investment underscored their commitment to creating a market-leading destination for the Blackpool community and the wider Munster region. He pointed to the recently upgraded Douglas Court as “a good example” of what could be achieved, “with investment from Dunnes as a starting point, and that sort of lifts the tide and others follow suit, and it creates a nice environment and that is a good example of what we are trying to achieve”. Like Douglas Court, Dunnes Stores is the anchor tenant in Blackpool.

Earlier this year, the new Douglas Court owners — the O’Leary family, formerly of O’Leary Insurances — told the Irish Examiner there had been a 7% increase in footfall in year one of their ownership. They bought the southside shopping centre for €21.5m in January 2024.

Mr Dineen said footfall at Blackpool Retail Park is up 8% since they acquired it in September 2024 and occupancy levels are high. All but one of 19 units in the retail park are occupied, and Mr Dineen said they are in negotiations with a prospective tenant. The unit was previously occupied by Next homestore. Office accommodation in the complex has occupancy rates of c 90%.

Across the road in the shopping centre, just five units of a total of 45 are vacant and Mr Dineen said they are “in active negotiations” in relation to two of the five.

One of the centre’s larger units, vacated by troubled fashion retailer New Look earlier this year, has been filled by Eason, a national brand whose arrival Mr Dineen said was “a good endorsement of the shopping centre”. Other new arrivals include tech-repair specialists Hugmie and cosmetic clinic Kerry Hanaphy Aesthetics, while the retail park has welcomed Danish homestore Jysk.

Ireland’s “Lip Queen” Kerry Hanaphy officially unveiled her long-awaited Cork clinic at Blackpool Shopping Centre last month in the company of Victoria Secret and Paul Ryder from Dublin. Picture: Gerard McCarthy

Mr Dineen said, in addition to new arrivals, they’ve had five lease renewals, where tenants have committed to stay on, including Cardfactory, health store Holland & Barrett, and Soundstore.

The asset manager said they had “aspirations to expand the offering” in Blackpool, which they were drawn to because of the potential it held as Cork City’s only northside shopping centre. He said they had also looked at Douglas Court and Douglas Village shopping centres, when they were for sale.

“I’ve been managing retail assets for 20-odd years and what attracted us to Blackpool is that it’s the only shopping centre on the northside of the city. It’s a rapidly expanding catchment area, with a lot of housing being built around there.”

Crowds pouring in on the opening day of the new Dunnes Stores in Blackpool in September 2000. Picture: Richard Mills.

He said they liked the kind of asset “where you have a grocery anchor and a number of shops”.

“That allows us to do the upgrades and then lease out that space,” he said.

The current upgrade involves retiling the entire shopping mall, due for completion this month, while work to smarten shopfronts, seating areas, lighting and communal areas will get under way next February. Mr Dineen said they then plan to move on to upgrading the entrances to the shopping centre.

While they hadn’t dropped tenants’ rents, he said rents in general are “more affordable”.

“When we are looking at assets, we put a big focus on that aspect of it: What actually is the rent and what can a retailer afford to pay? But I think the legacy of high rents has refixed to affordable levels. Retail is pretty healthy right now, rents have rebased to where it’s manageable, and that’s a good place to be.”

Mr Dineen said a lot of shopping centres were now 25-30 years old — none have been built since 2012 — and that while many hadn’t been invested in over the years, that was starting to change.

Asked if Lugus Capital had further acquisitions in their sights in the Cork area, Mr Dineen said they were “always on the lookout for retail assets”, although he ruled out up-for-sale Charleville Shopping Centre.

“We are tracking what might come to the market, but there’s been a lot [of shopping centres] traded in the past five years, and we haven’t seen any of them come back to the market yet, like Douglas Village and Douglas Court and a number of others.”

Lugus Capital, founded in 2013 by Peter Horgan and Tim Cahill, manages a portfolio worth approximately €900m. Assets under management in Cork are valued at €70m and include City Gate in Mahon, as well as Blackpool Shopping Centre, originally developed by the Love family, and acquired by Varde Partners in 2014 for €115m, before being sold at a 57% discount a decade later.