Shoppers of a different breed took over Jervis shopping centre last week. No, they weren’t hunting for the latest sales on yoga mats or electronic gizmos; they were vying over a chance to snatch up a piece of real estate pie. Who needs bargain bins when you can be part of the elite bidding for a mall?
Rumor has it that a jaw-dropping 13 first-round offers were tossed onto the table for the Dublin city center mall. Its owners, Paddy McKillen and Padraig Drayne, decided to sneakily slip it onto the market. Apparently, “quiet” is the new “loud” in real estate.
This wasn’t just any mall; it’s one of the last survivors from the 1990s, surviving not on protein shakes but on nostalgia. It’s a relic from an era when McKillen, Drayne, and their entrepreneurial buddy Paschal Taggart got together and thought, “Hey, let’s build a shopping center!” And now, it’s up for grabs, much to the delight of investors seeking the next hot asset.
Among the brave bidders battling over the mall’s fate were the likes of the Comer Group, the US property mogul Hines, and Lugus Capital. Even David Goddard’s Lanthorn decided to dip its toes in the bidding pool. The whole event felt like a game of Monopoly, but with real currency and a lot less plastic.
In the world of retail, 2023 has been nothing short of a buzz. Our good friend, retail, has returned from the grave after the apocalypse of COVID-19. Estate agents reported that retail is now the golden child of property investments, making up half of all deals in the first quarter of the year. Apparently, everyone forgot that bricks-and-mortar was supposed to kick the bucket.
It’s as if the industry traded its ‘goodbye’ card for ‘hello’ at the doors of major retail parks. US-headquartered Realty Income, which poured an astonishing $950 million into a casino, had the audacity to buy eight retail parks in a €220 million deal. Perhaps they figured money doesn’t just grow on trees; it must be invested in places where humans still crave tangible shopping experiences.
And yet, as we stand on the shoulders of this retail renaissance, not everything is rosé and unicorns. There are still pockets of doom lurking in tertiary shopping centers, eagerly awaiting the next wave of doom-and-gloom narratives. Retail doesn’t appear to be going anywhere—yet, stay tuned; it’s like a sequel to a horror film. Just when you think the retail apocalypse is over, the screen goes black, and we’re all left wondering, “Will there be a third act?”
So while the Jervis shopping center transforms into a bidding bonanza, let’s relish the irony that physical retail might just be the hero we didn’t see coming. With estimated yields up to 6.5%, it’s like finding a 20% off coupon in the bottom of a drawer—unexpected yet absolutely delightful.
