Tesco's Maynooth complex to compete with Dunnes

RetailMarket:A new style shopping park in Maynooth, to be anchored by Tesco, will go head-to-head with Dunnes Stores at the recently opened Manor Mills shopping centre in the town, writes Jack Fagan

Just over two years after Dunnes Stores moved into the newly completed Manor Mills shopping centre in Maynooth, arch rival Tesco is set to turn up the pressure by opening a new style shopping park on the opposite end of the fast growing Co Kildare town. Manor Mills is owned by an investment fund managed by Davy's.

Tesco has been trading out of a relatively small supermarket in Maynooth for about seven years and, when the adjoining cattle market went out of business, the UK multiple acquired the 22-acre site with the intention of replicating some of the highly successful shopping parks in the UK, such as Crown Point in Denton.

Carton Park in Maynooth (so branded because it is within a few hundred yards of Carton Estate and golf resort) will be built on broadly similar lines to the Cosgrave Group's Westend in Blanchardstown where the tenants include Lidl, Next and Heatons.

The essential difference is that Tesco will be the undisputed anchor tenant with an overall store of around 9,290sq m (100,000sq ft).

A similar volume of space will be developed on site for 23 other traders and, if more retail accommodation is required, Tesco will happily oblige because of the size of the site.

The present Tesco supermarket is to be redeveloped to cater for a second anchor store which will have 3,600sq m (38,6750sq ft) on two levels. This building is likely to be pitched at traders such as Penneys, Marks & Spencer and Heatons, and if all three are interested, Penneys is the most likely to be chosen given its exceptional success - not to mention pulling power - in recent years in this country and the UK.

Ten of the retail units will be ready for occupation at the same time as Tesco moves into its new store next November. The second phase of the scheme, including two anchor stores, will not be completed until the spring of 2009.

Karl Stewart, retail director of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald who is handling the letting programme, says there is strong interest in the new shopping facilities and "a number of high profile retailers have entered into the advance stages of negotiation".

Significantly, the new park has planning permission for full open use, giving the promoters considerable scope to attract a wide range of traders but particularly those in the fashion end of the business such as River Island, Next and New Look. Others, like Mothercare, and one of the electrical retailers may also be attracted to the park because of its proximity to a large prosperous area which includes Celbridge, Leixlip, Naas and Kilcock.

Interestingly, Tesco would apparently be happy to have Marks & Spencer on site but this is considered unlikely given that the multiple recently enlarged its store in Liffey Valley which is within a 20-minute drive.

Dunnes Stores operates a supermarket and department store out of a unit of 6,600sq m (71,000sq ft) in Manor Mills. The line up among the 30 other traders and two restaurants could be greatly strengthened but for the moment they include Eason's, Sasha, Hickey's Pharmacies, No Name and Shanique Ladieswear.