1/8/2008
The company has recently accounced the sale of a local development site at the junction of Broadway and Falls Road.
The landmark site, which has full Planning Permission for a ground floor retail unit and five apartments, was sold for £625,000.
Brian Wilkinson from McKibbin Commercial commented that "despite continued uncertainty in the local residential market there is still demand in the market for the right type of development site".
7/11/2008
The first of the major new stores coming to the extension of Bloomfield Retail Park will open before Christmas, it was revealed today. The £5 million extension in Bangor will see two major high street brands move in, in the coming months.
The two new 32,000 sq ft units have secured Laura Ashley and JJB Sports as tenants, a fantastic addition to the current tenant line up at Bloomfield Centre, which is owned by Donegal Place Investments. An estimated total of 100 jobs are to be created on completion.
Ryan McKenna of McKibbin Commercials, joint letting agents with Colliers CRE, said, “We are delighted that the first phase of the extension to Bloomfield Retail Park has been completed in a relatively short period of time. The investment into the new units and the winning of new tenants show how strong a retail destination Bloomfield Centre is. Laura Ashley will be a superb store to visit during the Christmas period and we look forward to welcoming JJB Sports early in 2009. With further plans to extend, we intend to maintain Bloomfield Centre’s role as one of the top retail destinations in Northern Ireland.”
The construction of the two high spec units, totalling 32,000 sq ft, has been completed by MSM contracts over the last eight months. The superb extension of the leisure and home ware stores will join a line up of the already existing Mothercare, Smyths Toys, Laser, Reid Furniture and Harry Corry in the retail park.
Laura Ashley will open only its third store in Northern Ireland and will have a total of 10,000 sq ft and include a selection of fashion and home ware products. JJB Sports will open a new retail store on the first floor while the ground floor will play host to JJB Fitness in a total of 22,500 sq ft of space. The fantastic new fitness suite will include two bubbling hot spas, a swimming pool and a large, air-conditioned gym, packed with all the latest equipment.
“The addition of a combined JJB Sports store and Fitness Club is a huge addition to the Bangor area, and I’ve no doubt that this will be an extremely popular addition to the offer at Bloomfield Centre, as well as getting everybody a bit fitter!” Ryan McKenna continued, “The scale of the fit out and work required for the swimming pool means that JJB will not be open before Christmas but I do know that membership enquiries can be made at JJB.”
Although separate from Bloomfield Shopping Centre, the Retail Park’s opening hours run in conjunction with the centres, which are currently Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, Saturday 9pm to 8pm and Sunday 1pm to 6pm.
7/11/2008
Ryan Mckenna from McKibbin Commercial acting on behalf of Donegall Place Investments Ltd, the owner of Bloomfield Shopping Centre, has negotiated the letting to one of the UK and Ireland's leading fashion jewellers.
Argento first opened in Belfast in December 1997 and has since expanded throughout the UK and Ireland, currently with 20 branches including Dublin, Nottingham, Cork, Derby and Newry.
