Homebase to anchor Tyrrelstown park

RETAIL MARKET:CONSTRUCTION IS underway on a major retail park at One Five West in Tyrrelstown, Co Dublin.

Homebase is to anchor the €100 million development which should be ready for trading by January 2010.

The signing of British retailer Homebase comes as the scheme's joint selling agents (Savills HOK and McPeake Property) begin a major sales drive, with units ranging from 733sq m (7,890sq ft) to 1,889sq m (20,333sq ft) available for sale or lease. It has also been confirmed that the N2-N3 link road, which is to run along the side of One Five West, has been approved by An Bord Pleanála.

Twinlite is the development company responsible for construction of the park, with the project providing about 400 jobs during construction and about 1,500 if the park is built to its full potential of up to 50,000sq m (538,195sq ft).

The retail park's first phase will extend to 20,230sq m (217,754sq ft) and provide 15 units with 1,000 car-parking spaces. This phase will also include a motor mall with six showrooms, and should employ up to 500 people when fully let.

The agents say that the new road system makes One Five West accessible to a million people within a 30-minute drive and 1.5 million within a 45-minute drive. Yet the space will be targeted primarily at UK traders who may find the rents at Blanchardstown and Airside in Swords too high.

Rents will be about €275 per sq m (€27.5 per sq ft) at One Five West. Twinlite has stated its intention to accept either sale or lease for units at the park.

Homebase has signed for a 3,251sq m (35,000sq ft) unit with a 1,114sq m (11,990sq ft) garden centre. This 13th store for the UK retailer in Ireland is set for completion in about a year. The development already has an operating four-star hotel, the Park Plaza, which opened in August 2006.

Approval of the Tyrrelstown to N2 (Cherryhound interchange) link road is an important milestone for the development given that it will greatly improve accessibility. The four-lane 4.5kms road will almost encircle the One Five West site, and construction is to begin around September 2008 assuming the plan passes smoothly through the appeal stage before being sent out for tender to the eight shortlisted companies seeking the building project.

Twinlite has been active in the Tyrrelstown area, having built and sold more than 2,000 homes in the area, along with 10,000sq m (107,639sq ft) of retail space in a neighbourhood centre adjoining the residential development.