Mac Donagh Station Shopping Centre

highgiant1985

Stephen wrote: »

Makes sense to me - an expensive empty unit makes far less money than an occupied unit rented on the cheap!

though some landlords in Kilkenny don't seem to think so :P

I'll miss zavvi and its bucket load of dvds

Haven't been into a Tom Tailors store before would anyone who has know are they seen as expensive or are they good value?

PhilipMarlowe

I was in Jervis st. just before christmas and saw a Tom Tailor.. had a very quick peek and it looked reasonable but I was only in the shop 15 seconds or so

Raze_them_all

trishw78 wrote: »

fingers crossed HMV take over Zavvi... HMV Took over the Zavvi in Dundrum

not happeneing they announced they were only taking 5 and have already taken them over

KatCookie

They COULD take Zavvi over, Just like I potentially COULD star in a movie and win an Oscar, but the chances of either happening are VERY slim!
Zavvi have emptied out everything from inside now, all stock gone, so just incase anyone wanted to commit robbery, i wouldnt bother because everything has gone! Even the stereo system that you could listen to music on.... Maybe another shop will come there soon, but I doubt HMV would, the KK store probably didnt look to good on the Books, mainly because it was still "new" and profit was hardly that high..

manus30

they will be missed alright...

Firetrap

I'm disappointed Zavvi's gone. Heartbeat City doesn't have anywhere near the selection of stuff that Zavvi had :mad:

road_high

I miss Zavvi. For the first time KK had a decent CD and DVD store that was well priced, modern, big and had a great selection..now it's gone again

KatCookie

Tom Tailor is good though, it looked quite expensive but when I went in i noticed that the prices werent totally unreasonable!
Wimmins clothes were nice!!

ztoical

Popped into Mac Donagh earlier to grab some stuff from the health food shop and found they've reverted back to charging for the carpark [with a whole euro off if you spend 10 in dunnes]. Thought having the first 2 hours free was the smartest thing that place had every done.

Deliverance XXV

ztoical wrote: »

Popped into Mac Donagh earlier to grab some stuff from the health food shop and found they've reverted back to charging for the carpark [with a whole euro off if you spend 10 in dunnes]. Thought having the first 2 hours free was the smartest thing that place had every done.

My thoughts exactly. I'm suprised they did that as free first two hours was a great incentive to shop in a shopping centre with little enticement...

road_high

Thats surprising. I was going way more often since they brought that in. I won't be bothered now

ztoical

mfitzy wrote: »

Thats surprising. I was going way more often since they brought that in. I won't be bothered now

I'd started going more often myself for the same reason, even with zavi gone if I didn't have to pay for parking I'd drop in to get shopping or meet someone for coffee. I find it really odd they've got rid of it given all the events during the day they keep trying to push like the craft fairs and cooking demos.

Nightwish

Same here. I only started going there when the 2 hours free parking was introduced. I wont be visiting there now unless absolutely necessary, and I cant see that happening.

Stephen

Greedy feckers. I guess they saw the council annihilating all the other free parking in town and thought they'd chance their arms.

Firetrap

Plonkers. They need every customer they can get coming through those doors. I don't know how the coffee shops in the food court stay in business. I've walked through it many times when you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people sitting down to have something to eat.

road_high

Firetrap wrote: »

Plonkers. They need every customer they can get coming through those doors. I don't know how the coffee shops in the food court stay in business. I've walked through it many times when you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people sitting down to have something to eat.

That's 'cos they're all rubbish places to eat!! There is no where you can actually get a decent meal in MacDonagh. There are 3 coffee shops that offer more or less the same thing.
They need something mainstream, like the Kilkenny Cafe in the Market Cross. That's always busy. Why? Because it gives people what they actually want!

I don't really shop much in Dunnes so I won't be going to MacDonagh as much at all now.
They need to look at why the Fairgreen has been so successful; Free parking and a Tesco. Exactly what MacDonagh lacks!!

Firetrap

Got to agree with you there. I had the misfortune of eating in one of the estasblishments in there one day and it wasn't good. The soup tasted kind of burnt and my friend's quiche was all dried up. It wasn't cheap either. There's nowhere up that end of town where you can go in during the daytime and get a nice reasonably priced bog standard dinner. I guess Foodworks would be the nearest to that and it's a bit fancier.

JohnMc1

Has there been any word on anything going into where Zavvi was?

Firetrap

Interesting article in today's Sunday Turbine (Link to the full article here)

The rental downturn means some tenants are not paying rent and, in one case in Kilkenny, the landlord is now owed more than €600,000.

The Sunday Tribune has obtained documents showing the rent arrears at MacDonagh Junction, a shopping centre in Kilkenny which opened in November 2007.

"Tenant arrears are a significant issue for all retail centres at the moment, including MacDonagh Junction," according to documents recently circulated by stockbroking firm Davy, whose private clients invested in the centre.

The total quarterly rent from the centre is €1.17m, including the Zavvi unit which surrendered its lease after going into liquidation. Davy's investors' share of the quarterly rent is 45.5%. The documents, seen by this newspaper, show that tenant rent arrears of more than 90 days stood at €284,000 in April, suggesting total rent arrears of more than €620,000. Five tenants account for more than 50% of the arrears, the documents state.

Davy Private bought its share in the centre for nearly €69m including costs, and funded it using nearly €46m of bank debt and more than €23.1m of equity. The debt was provided by AIB with €40m fixed for 12.5 years at an all-in rate of 5.37%, €3.5m fixed for seven years at 6.24% and €2.3m on a three-month Euribor.

Rent on the unlet units when the centre opened was underwritten by MacDonagh Junction Developments Limited (MJDL), which developed the centre, for two years as part of the deal. When the centre was bought, just under three-quarters of the units by area were let. That figure now stands at 80%, according to the documents.

Three tenants at the shopping centre had entered examinership or administration or went into liquidation "and a number of other tenants are experiencing difficulty".

They have drawn up a plan to recover the arrears, secure existing tenants and let vacant space, including the units where tenants may not survive.

"The objective of the plan is to get the centre fully let, even if this means taking a temporary hit on rent," it states, adding that "tenants are being allowed pay rent quarterly on condition they're made on time".

Davy told the investors that they expect to recover all of the arrears and also stated that Penneys is in advanced discussions to take the unit at the back of the centre, which would form its second phase.

Davy also pointed out that MJDL continues to have obligations to the Davy investors. These include that Davy's investors have the option to "put any unlet units back on MJDL if unlet after two years for price they paid for them". In addition, if the vacant units are let at a "rent lower than what was capped up at, the purchase price is recalculated based on reduced rent and MJDL refunds the difference to investors". Finally, "MJDL is responsible for letting costs associated with the unlet units such as fit out costs and tenant incentives".

The MacDonagh Junction case is by no means unique but is illustrative of the state of the market. Some shopping centres are seriously struggling, including one in the south-east where the anchor tenant is reputedly not even making its bread and milk quotas, a sign that footfall is nowhere near expectations.

road_high

Bloody hell! I wonder is that Dunnes Stores?

road_high

Wonder where the other South East shopping centre is they are talking about? Might that new one over in Arklow, can't think of any other new ones that it could be.

PhilipMarlowe

Great, so to go along with the Dunnes that we didn't really need, we are to have a Penneys in phase two to beautifully compliment the other Penneys that we already have... brilliant stuff.

road_high

Licksy wrote: »

Great, so to go along with the Dunnes that we didn't really need, we are to have a Penneys in phase two to beautifully compliment the other Penneys that we already have... brilliant stuff.

Whats this about Phase two Licksy? Penneys is popular and cheap though. Always does well.

Any word of the planned hotel?

PhilipMarlowe

I don't know other than what I read above...
"Davy told the investors that they expect to recover all of the arrears and also stated that Penneys is in advanced discussions to take the unit at the back of the centre, which would form its second phase."

I always assumed that as you come out of Dunnes and turn right that there is a big wide corridor leading nowhere... that they would extend the centre out in that direction but i don't know how much room there is out there?

road_high

Good man, I didn't read the article properly!

Cabaal

Stephen wrote: »

Greedy feckers. I guess they saw the council annihilating all the other free parking in town and thought they'd chance their arms.

I'd imagine this is the case alright, that or perhaps they had load of people abusing it for thew free 2 hour stay because the council have fecked up everywhere else.

Can take it either way in fairness

zootroid

mfitzy wrote: »

Penneys is popular and cheap though. Always does well.

Maybe. But whats the point in placing another there? People aren't going to break their shopping habits to go to the other side of town and shop in the same shop.

Deliverance XXV

zootroid wrote: »

Maybe. But whats the point in placing another there? People aren't going to break their shopping habits to go to the other side of town and shop in the same shop.

It's sounds like a ploy to steal shoppers away from the Market Cross SC. The two anchor shops there are Superquinn and Penneys.
Now MacDonagh Junction will have (presumably) Penneys and Dunnes. That's two pretty good anchors to have and it certainly will attract a different customer than what Zavvi offered. And probably more of them too.

On a personal note: I want HMV, not another poxy Penneys

Firetrap

I want a Tesco or a Marks & Spencer, not another Dunnezzzzzzzzzzz.

road_high

More Shops are Planned to come soon. Some of them I never heard of...
Sasha, the name, must have been bought out by somebody I see. HMV is the hightlight by a mile

http://www.kilkennyalive.com/story/85-new-jobs-macdonagh-junctions-christmas-present-kilkenny