Business

Boucher Road retail park goes on the market for £19.7m

Shane Retail Park in Belfast was last sold in 2014 for around £30m. It's new asking price is just under £20m.
Shane Retail Park in Belfast was last sold in 2014 for around £30m. It's new asking price is just under £20m. Shane Retail Park in Belfast was last sold in 2014 for around £30m. It's new asking price is just under £20m.

ONE of Belfast’s busiest retail parks has gone on the for the market for £19.7 million amid a spike in investment interest in large Northern Ireland shopping assets.

Shane Retail Park includes a 50,000 sq ft Homebase store and a major Smyths Toys outlet.

It comes just days after Manchester-based David Samuel Properties bought Lisnagelvin Retail Park in Derry for £9.7m.

The UK-Israeli investment group has splashed almost £60m on three retail ventures in the north in the past 18 months.

It bought Crescent Link in Derry for £30m in October 2019 and paid £17.8m for the Holywood Exchange Retail Park in December.

Built in 2003, Shane Retail Park was bought by New York-based investment fund Marathon Asset Management in 2014.

It’s understood the US company paid almost £30m to Ballymena-based Corbo for the Boucher Road asset. It was part of a £50m deal that also included the Cityside Retail Park in Belfast, formerly known as Yorkgate.

The New York fund also bought the Obel development in Belfast for around £20m in 2014.

Despite a lull in other locations, the north's retail sector has witnessed a flurry of activity in recent times.

Last year saw NewRiver REIT sell a 90 per cent stake in Sprucefield Retail Park in Lisburn for £34.7m, while Abbey Retail Park in Newtownabbey was sold for £33m in February 2020.

Savills director Ben Turtle said: “Despite a decline elsewhere in the UK and Europe, retail remains an attractive investment asset class in Northern Ireland – evidenced by a number of transactions over the past year including Slate Asset Management’s acquisition of Abbey Retail Park for £33m last year, and the sale of Lisnagelvin Retail Park to David Samuel Properties for £9.7m.”

The north’s retail sector is set to fully reopen on Friday, with the Boucher Road braced for an influx of shoppers.

Shane Retail Park also includes Oak Furnitureland, Dunelm Mill, EZ Living, Costa Coffee, Carpetright and Dreams.

All units are currently let.

“Shane Retail Park is one of the best ‘bulky goods’ retail developments in Northern Ireland,” said Robert Ditty at CBRE NI.

“And given that it is fully let with a wide range of well-renowned tenants, we are anticipating extremely high levels of demand from a variety of investors.”

Fellow CBRE director Andrew Coggins added: “Out of town retail has performed exceptionally well throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to strong tenant demand as well as a healthy investor appetite for such schemes within the sector.”

The Northern Ireland commercial property sector recorded a number of landmark property deals in recent weeks.

A Saudi Arabian fund completed the biggest ever office deal in March when it bought Merchant Square in Belfast for £87m,

Dublin wealth manager Elkstone completed its first property investment in Belfast in April.