Hammerson Ireland’s chief Connor Owens is leaving the part-owner of Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin to join rival Falcon AM.
Falcon, manager of Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, confirmed on Wednesday that Mr Owens would join it as chief executive next December. The company simultaneously named Aoife Foley as chief financial officer and Bernard Nulty as chief operating officer.
The group is setting up a dedicated team of Irish executives to run the Blanchardstown Centre which it acquired a year ago for around €600 million.
Mr Owens is currently managing director asset management (Ireland) at Hammerson, which co-owns Dundrum, the State’s biggest shopping mall, with German insurer Allianz, and whose other properties include the Ilac centre in central Dublin.
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He began running Hammerson’s business here in 2021, when shopping centres were still grappling with the fallout from Covid curbs and after its parent had raised £550 million sterling (€630 million) from investors.
Sources credit him with revitalising Hammerson’s Irish operations, luring more leisure and food businesses to rent space in its shopping centres.
He also oversaw Dundrum refinance its debt with a €350 million debt from a group led by insurers Rothesay Life, BNP Paribas and DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale. The business is close to completing 122 homes for rent in Dundrum.
His defection comes just days after the company’s parent, British developer, Hammerson plc, reported the first increase in the value of its properties since 2017.
Planning appeals board An Coimisiún Pleanála this year rejected Hammerson’s proposal to build 881 homes on the site of the old Dundrum Shopping centre in the Dublin suburb.
Meanwhile, its plan for a site linking Dublin’s O’Connell Street to Moore Street, that features buildings tied to the 1916 Rising, faces a High Court challenge.
Mr Owens was previously head of asset management and recovery at the State-owned National Asset Management Agency (Nama), where he was responsible for billions of euro in properties and debt taken over from Irish banks following a financial crash.
Anders Hemmingson, managing director of commercial real estate at Falcon AM’s owner, Connecticut, United States-based Strategic Value Partners (SVP), said that Mr Owens’ track record and experience made him the “ideal” person to lead its Irish business.
“Connor’s deep industry knowledge, proven track record in strategic leadership, and his exceptional ability to drive value in complex real estate environments make him the ideal leader to deliver the next phase of Blanchardstown Centre’s growth and development,” Mr Hemmingson said.
Ms Foley is a chartered accountant who joined Falcon in 2016, working most recently as financial controller. Mr Nulty has been working in asset management with Falcon since 2019, overseeing Blanchardstown shopping centre.
SVP, founded by Victor Khosla in 2001 it manages more than $22 billion (€19 billion) in assets.
Goldman Sachs took over the Blanchardstown Centre from the US private equity giant Blackstone for €750 million four years ago. Blackstone had paid about €950 million to buy the asset from Stephen Vernon’s Green Property in 2016. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, crippled bricks and mortar retail in 2020 and, by October that year, Goldman was in talks to take control of the mall.
The centre, which opened in 1996, includes some 112,000 sq m (1.2 million sq ft) of retail space distributed across 180 shops. The scheme is anchored by major retailers such as Dunnes Stores, Penneys, Marks & Spencer and Aldi. It also comprises three external retail parks, external retail units, an office block and 7,000 free car-parking spaces.
