BLOOMFIELD SHOPPING CENTRE IS UP FOR SALE

0
81

BLOOMFIELD Shopping Centre is up for sale after being placed on the market for over £22m.

Bangor’s biggest shopping centre was bought eight years ago for £54m by London-based Ellandi and real-estate asset management firm Tristan Capital Partners.

They had purchased the mall from Northern Ireland’s KFC tycoon, Michael Herbert, as part of the portfolio of Donegall Place Investments Ltd, which also previously owned Bow Street Mall in Lisburn.

Bloomfield’s is thought to be the UK’s first carbon neutral centre of its type.

The 49-shop centre opened in 1992, presenting shoppers from Bangor and further afield with their first large scale offering of its type, with anchor tenants including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Next.

Savills, the centre’s management agent, reports in its brochure on the centre that there is a current vacancy rate of 2.15%.

The accommodation is predominantly arranged over ground floor level, however TK Maxx and Next trade over two levels.

It was last refurbished in 2001 and now boasts 425,085 square feet of retail and ancillary accommodation, located on a 30.85 acre site.

It was extended in 2002 to include 49 retail units within three malls. Its adjacent warehouse houses a gym, discount stores and other retail offerings, with three restaurants on site including a drive-thru McDonald’s and a Tesco petrol station.

The centre has a rental income of £3.336m, with footfall estimated at remaining at ‘robust levels in recent years’ of 3.48m according to a listing for the centre on Propertynews property website.

The website added: “Both Tesco and Marks & Spencer occupy the property on long leases at a peppercorn rent with expiries in 2115 and 2117 respectively.

“Other national multiple retailers within the shopping centre include Specsavers, Holland & Barrett, JD Sports, Danske Bank, Vision Express, The Works, Jack & Jones, Costa, Three, Boots, Goldsmiths and River Island to name but a few.”

It is understood that a Waterstones book store is due to open in the new year.

Ulster Bank appointed a fixed charge receiver to Bloomfield last year, which has led to receivers putting it on the market.

Ellandi and Tristan Capital Partners, which also bought Enniskillen’s Erneside Shopping Centre in the same year that it purchased Bloomfield’s, was asked for comment, but none was forthcoming.

Similarly, Savills, the centre’s management agent, was asked to comment but did not make any.

Former owner, Michael Herbert, who recently purchased Belfast’s Forestside centre, said in a radio interview he believed ‘there’s plenty of future for retail’ in Northern Ireland.