The Danish footwear retailer Ecco Shoes has been confirmed as the new tenant for 47 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, which had been previously occupied by Korky's shoes.
The operator of that store ran a lengthy campaign to have rents reduced on the street after his rent shot up from €210,000 to €445,000 in 2005.
In January, 2013, Korky’s was finally released from its lease.
Ecco will be paying a rent of €210,000 for the building, which has a retail area of 81.6sq m (879sq ft) at street level. The landlord, Irish Life (which was formerly Canada Life), now plans to spend around €500,000 on the refurbishment of the building.
George Ross of Jones Lang LaSalle, who advised Ecco, said the company had been trading on Wicklow Street since the early 1980s and was now taking advantge of the reduced rents and the increased availability of space to secure a high profile store on Grafton Street.
Sharon Walsh of HWBC acted for the landlords.