A landmark shopping centre and apartment complex on the former Manor Mills site in Maynooth, Co Kildare, has been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála.
The confirmed anchor tenant on the 14,000 sq m site is Dunnes Stores, which is expected to open a 6,600 sq m supermarket in the new centre at Mill Street, which will include grocery and drapery goods.
In addition, there will be an internal mall with 22 smaller retail outlets, restaurants, a health and fitness centre, offices and a 508 sq m creche. Car parking will be at basement and first-floor level.
The residential component will feature 191 apartments, distributed among nine blocks, varying in height from two to four storeys. The existing mill house will be demolished to make way for the new scheme.
Dulcedo Developments, a consortium headed by hotelier Mr John O'Sullivan, has secured the permission for the scheme.
Mr O'Sullivan, proprietor of the Hodson Bay and Galway Bay hotels, may be tempted to sell on the site for development, and would realise well in excess of €25 million on the deal.
However, with tenders about to go out and the site ready to go, he said he was reluctant to let it go at this stage.
"The Dunnes Store will be the first in Maynooth and is one of the largest supermarkets they will open this year," Mr O'Sullivan said.
Negotiations are ongoing with prospective tenants for the smaller retail outlets and construction is expected to begin on completion of archaeological reports on the site.
As the location for the proposed development is on the site of an old water mill and close to Maynooth Castle, An Bord Pleanála requested an underwater archaeological assessment in the Lyreen River and the Mill Race.
The development provides for a landscaped linear park/civic space fronting on the river.
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