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Downing Commercial Launch their Spring Bulletin Friday, 01 May 2009 00:00

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INTRODUCTION TO DOWNING COMMERCIAL

John Downing, FRICS former Commercial Director of Cohalan Downing formed a new commercial practice last October specialising in all aspects of the Commercial Property Market. The practice has an emphasis on Cork City, the greater Munster Area and Dublin. Downing Commercial has had a very positive start and recently received a major boost when it secured Big Fish Games as a tenant, in City Gate, Mahon, Cork.

With over 35 years experience in the Commercial Property Market, John has been involved in some of the largest land disposals, office rentals, rent reviews and valuations in Cork along with many equally important smaller property transactions.

Declan Hickey BSc MIAVI also made the move with John after working closely with him for the past 5 years in Cohalan Downing. More recently the team has grown to include Felicity Quarry MRICS, a former employee of DTZ Manchester and Howard Holdings and Gerard O’Dea MIAVI, who was also with Cohalan Downing for nine years.

The team combines a wealth of relevant expertise in all aspects of Retail, Office and Industrial property. All staff members are affiliated to the IAVI, John Downing and Felicity Quarry are both members of the Society of Chartered Surveyors.

“Whether you want to buy, sell, rent or optimise the value of your existing property holding, we make every effort to guarantee a thoroughly superior and satisfactory experience”.

“We believe our company will further enhance the commercial services currently offered and allow greater opportunities for commercial clients in our area”.

Our extensive client base includes Landlords, Tenants and Developers consisting of Public Sector Bodies, Key Private Individuals, Corporate and Institutional organisations.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR BANKS AND DEVELOPERS
Corporate and Individual Recovery

At present the Banks are showing a strong willingness to support individuals and companies where the principals are realistic regarding the economic climate.

Currently we are advising on a number of projects, which have been adversely affected by the lack of demand with a view to maximising Real Estate Assets.

This involves restructureing where appropriate and also re-assessing Planning Permissions and planning conditions. Where appropriate we are bringing in outsite expertise in Architecture and Engineering to fully re-assess development potential in these testing market conditions.

Realistic assessment of values and demand is the priority, especially with a view to the long term. There is a reluctance to get involved in knee jerk decisions as the outlook for the future could be quite different.

200,000 SQ.FT RESERVED IN CITY GATE MAHON

Big Fish Games who have recently announced 100 new jobs for Cork have just commenced fit out on their 7,500 Sq. Ft premises at City Gate Mahon. Also at City Gate HIQA have recently moved into their 18,500 Sq. Ft HQ. taking the amount of space reserved or occupied to nearly 200,000 Sq. Ft Both of these transactions were negotiated through Downing Commercial.

City Gate is one of the largest mixed use commercial developments in Cork providing approximately 240,000 Sq. Ft of Grade A offices on the upper floors, and in the region of 90,000 Sq. Ft ground floor commercial space. The estate features a central plaza which incorporates a Nosh n Coffee cafe with a large exterior seating area.

HIQA & Big Fish Games join other high quality companies who have chosen City Gate as their Cork home, such as Regus, VHI Swiftcare and Solar Winds.

EX-ZAVVI STORE LEASE AVAILABLE

A 12,000 sq ft retail unit on a just re-fashioned city street has been put up for Lease – with a guide of €1 million a year.

The former Zavvi unit, at 1, Queens Old Castle on Cork City’s Grand Parade is on the market after the collapse of the former entertainment chain in Britain and Ireland.

No 1 Queens Old Castle has a long trading history in Cork. In the 1970s, it was a shopping mall, and was redeveloped in the 1990s by Clarendon Properties as premises for Argos and Virgin Megastore. The site has 36ft of street frontage, 12,000 sq ft at ground level and 20,000 sq ft in all, including overhead stores.

The unit has high ceilings, superb lighting, and has a ready-to-go fitout and is been offered on flexible lease terms, which will be less restrictive and will open the gates to an array of occupiers.

ISSUES RELATING TO RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY

The Department of Environment has established a new leasing initiative for the delivery of social housing. Properties will be leased from the private sector and used to accommodate households from local authority waiting lists. Leased properties will be allocated to tenants, in accordance with the local authorities allocation schemes. The main features of the new arrangements are as follows:

Local authorities will enter into lease arrangements with property owners for a period of between 10- 20 years.
Properties will be tenanted, managed and maintained by the local authority;
Rent will be guaranteed for the whole lease period.

Cork City Council in particular have unfulfilled requirements and expressions of interest have been sought from property owners for the provision of dwellings under this initiative. For further information contact Gerard O Dea of this office.

INSPECTION OF BER CERTIFICATES

In other news related to residential properties this office understands that Dublin City Council is calling to Agents’ offices to inspect BER certificates for all properties currently for sale / to rent. If a certificate is not available the inspector is allowing 28 days for the provision of a certificate. If a certificate is still not available within that time frame there is a risk of prosecution.

It is Dublin City Council’s intention to call on all offices, however it would appear to be confined to Dublin at present but it is likely that other Councils around the country will follow suit.