Category: Featured (6)

NI-owned Magell Limited officially acquires ownership of Ballymena shopping centre in partnership with Melcorpo Group


An acquisition deal has been completed to bring the Fairhill Shopping Centre under the ownership of Ballymena based property development and investment company Magell Limited.
Purchased for an undisclosed sum in partnership with the Dublin-based Melcorpo Group, Fairhill has returned to local ownership after a period of ownership by German investment group Patrizia AG.

Fairhill Shopping Centre extends to circa 280,000 sq. ft. with notable tenants including Marks & Spencer, Next, JD Sports, H&M, River Island, Starbucks, Superdry, ToyTown and Burger King.

Speaking about the acquisition, Ryan Walker of Magell Limited said: “Fairhill Shopping Centre is an exciting addition to our portfolio and one which represents fantastic opportunity, both for our company and for the town of Ballymena. We are proud to be bringing the centre back under local ownership and intend to cement a hands on, active management style that best supports the future of the centre and the tenants within it.”

Leading Belfast law firm Millar McCall Wylie acted for Magell Limited and its investment partner in the purchase: “We were delighted to play a role in the acquisition of Fairhill Shopping Centre on behalf of the purchaser,” comments Simon Fleming, Director, Millar McCall Wylie.
“This family-owned business will undoubtedly go on to maximise the potential of the centre and lead it into a fresh new chapter,” Simon Fleming said.

TDK Commercial Property Consultants advised on the acquisition and have been appointed as letting and managing agents. Mark Thallon, Partner in TDK commented “Fairhill Shopping Centre offers a great opportunity and we look forward to working with the new owners to realise the full potential of the centre.”

Five Guys have opened their third store in Northern Ireland at Boucher Square, Belfast, this compliments their existing units at Victoria Square, Belfast and Rushmere SC, Craigavon.

The unit let by TDK is located in the successful Boucher Square which is home to several national food and beverage operators including Costa Coffee, Frankie and Benny’s, Nandos and Eddie Rockets.

With Boucher Retail Park situated directly opposite the scheme the area has become Northern Ireland’s premier one-stop leisure and hospitality destination providing all the shops and eateries you need for a day out.

A sixth unit is currently under construction, it is due for completion early 2019 and we are sure it won’t take long before we are welcoming another new name to Boucher Square.

TDK are thrilled to see Taboo open their fifth store today.

The unit on Fountain Street was let by TDK following the success of their first Belfast store in Ann Street which has recently been extended to include an extensive seating area. Taboo first opened in June 2018 and now have 5 stores throughout Northern Ireland.

With Tim Hortons and Bob & Berts as their neighbours we think this might be Belfast’s sweet spot!

London, Tuesday 16th February 2016, Real Estate Investment Trust, managed by AEW UK, has signed GO Outdoors, which brands itself as’ the UK’s biggest outdoor stores’ is to open its first superstore in Northern Ireland at Valley Retail Park, Newtownabbey.

AEW UK REIT PLC are delighted to announce this new entrant into the Northern Ireland Retail market. Go Outdoors will occupy the 45,000 sq ft space created by the recently vacated Harvey Norman store. TDK Commercial property consultants, acting on behalf of AEW, negotiated an early surrender of the Harvey Norman lease in order to facilitate Go Outdoors to come to the park.

Mark Thallon, Partner at TDK said “When we advised AEW in the acquisition, we had a clear strategy to identify certain retailers who would attract customers back to what is a fantastic location. Go Outdoors were top of the list and we are delighted that they have chosen Valley Retail Park for their first Irish store. We now only have two more units available and we are confident that this letting, together with existing tenants Harveys, Halfords and Harry Corry, will now attract other retailers to the remaining space”

Andrew Playfer from AEW said “the addition of Go Outdoors to Valley Retail Park is a key element of our strategy to reinvigorate the Park following our purchase last year. We believe this will be the catalyst to further lettings and expect to be in a position to make other announcements during the course of the year.”

AEW UK REIT PLC acquired Valley Retail Park, Newtownabbey in Belfast for GBP 7.15 million.

GO Outdoors, based in Sheffield, employs around 2,000 staff. It was founded in 1998 and offers customers equipment and clothing under one roof for activities including camping, walking, climbing, riding, fishing, skiing, running and cycling.

Café chain Costa Coffee has opened a 2,000 sq.ft. new store in Armagh at Spires Retail Park in an expansion which creates 10 new jobs.

This move sees Costa Coffee continue their expansion in Northern Ireland which started in 2004 at Belfast City through franchisee MBCC Foods.

TDK advised Costa Coffee on this acquisition and Mark Thallon Partner at TDK commented “The opening of the latest Costa Coffee store will be a great addition to Spires Retail Park and we fully expect it to complement the existing retail offer at the scheme. The Armagh unit is one of several we have been working on with Costa and follows on from openings in 2015 of units at Strabane, Boucher Sq, Belfast and Lisnagelvin SC, Londonderry. We have developed a strong pipeline of further stores which will be delivered over the next 18 months”.

TDK have been appointed joint letting agents of an exciting new restaurant and leisure development at Abbey Retail Park, Newtownabbey by Hammerson.

Abbey Retail Park is one of the strongest Retail Park schemes in Greater Belfast currently comprising 250,000 sq.ft. and attracting over 200,000 cars per month. The scheme currently occupies Tesco, B&Q, Carpetright, Currys and PCWorld.

The restaurant terrace will comprise 4 new units and Hammerson are committed to developing the units to facilitate a Q4 2016 opening date and will complement the retail offer at Abbey Retail Park and the surrounding 1 million plus sq.ft. of neighboring retail including Abbeycentre and Longwood Retail Park.

Commenting on the instruction Mark Thallon Retail Partner at TDK said “We believe this exciting scheme will satisfy the existing demand from Food and Beverage operators currently looking to aggressively expand in Greater Belfast and across NI. This has been demonstrated recently in other schemes leisure schemes including Boucher Sq and Lisburn Leisure that TDK have been involved in. We are delighted with the initial level of interest received from established national and local catering operators and we are close to agreeing terms on the first unit to a national chain” The scheme will provide in excess of 12,000 sq.ft. of space and the completed units will be built to a high specification to include high level glazing, external seating areas and will benefit from in excess of 100 on site parking spaces.