New Douglas Court owners also considered buying Douglas Village

Cushman & Wakefield who acted for the vendors of Douglas Village – a company linked to the Love family’s Shipton Group – approached Mr O’Leary as they knew he “might be in the market for an asset in Cork”. They were aware of his interest in Douglas Village and that he had sold the family’s insurance business in 2020 for a deal estimated to be worth c€100m. The agents then approached the owners of Douglas Court, Chandos Investments, on behalf of the O’Learys, to see if it could be bought off-market. Once a price was agreed, they were given time to do due diligence.

“There has been considerable due diligence completed by the purchasers during the latter half of 2023 and the contracts were signed just before Christmas, with the sale completing this week,” Cushman & Wakefield MD Peter O’Flynn told the Irish Examiner.

“We are pleased to have acted for the O’Leary family in the acquisition of this important asset,” he added.

The completion of the deal means Cushman & Wakefield have been instrumental in two major shopping centre transactions in Douglas in the past year involving almost €45m. They sold Douglas Village a year ago to the Tom Coughlan-led Urban Green Private for c€23m, and acted for the purchasers this time ’round, who paid €21.5m.

Mr O’Flynn said it was a good news story for suburban shopping centres.

“Having seen the two main shopping centres in Douglas trade hands to local owners in the last 12 months, with close to €45m invested, it will bring a new dimension to Douglas and confirms that retail in general, and suburban shopping centres in good locations, have bounced back following Covid, and that people still like to visit retail outlets and have a hands-on approach to the purchases they make,” Mr O’Flynn said.

He expects the O’Leary family to take a hands-on approach to the Douglas outlet, which he said had been managed from Dublin for years.

“This is a new beginning for Douglas Court, and it will certainly benefit from strong local involvement on the landlord side.

“My colleague Frank Ryan advised Clayton Love Jnr & the Shipton Group when they were developing the shopping centre back in the early 1990’s and we have remained involved in the centre pretty much continually since,” Mr O’Flynn said.

The centre includes owner/occupied Dunnes Stores and another 84,000 sq ft of retail space, with more 50 units. Three of the units are currently empty and Mr O’Flynn said they’ve had enquiries from prospective tenants. Major occupiers in situ include Boots, Sam McCauley, Carraig Donn, Dealz, Easons and Cummins Sports.

The Dunnes Stores unit, which is currently undergoing significant upgrades, is not part of the sale, which covers the remaining units, a garden centre premises, and 800+ car parking spaces on the 5.5 ha (13.6 acre) site.

Mr O’Flynn said the O’Leary’s intend to support existing occupiers and bring new occupiers in, as well as making additional investments to add to the retail and leisure offering.