Dunloe's plan for major development may yet get thumbs up

Dunloe Ewart's proposed major retail, residential and leisure regeneration scheme for the Royal Avenue end of Belfast city centre may still receive approval, according to local agents. Industry sources expect the Northern Assembly will support the proposed Multi Development Corporation's (MDC) mixed retail, hotel and leisure development.

MDC, Dunloe Ewart and another joint venture involving Land Securities and Deramore Properties have been in competition for the city's new major shopping centre. It is understood MDC's proposals have been favoured in the consultants' report to the assembly.

The demand for additional shopping space in the city centre is underlined by the current Zone A rental levels which are in excess of £215 sterling, putting them on a par with, or even higher than, Dublin's Grafton and Henry Streets.

Local agents say the demand for space for units up to department store size is likely to ensure that the Dunloe scheme will receive support even if one of the other schemes was supported by the consultants' report.

The Dunloe Ewart proposal for its Cathedral Way scheme is also a greatly scaled down version of from its previous Gateway scheme, which incorporated a huge shopping centre, residential and leisure development taking in an extended Castle Court Shopping Centre. The Gateway proposal, in conjunction with John Laing and the then Castle Court owners, MEPC, included 750,000 sq ft of retail space and had a total cost of nearly £500 million.

The new Dunloe Ewart submission has a total floor space of 450,000 sq ft, including 275,000 sq ft of retail, a 75-bedroom hotel, art gallery, health club, apartments and parking for 1,000 cars.

According to local agents, the latest Dunloe Ewart proposal fits more closely with the cultural and recreational aspect of the Cathedral Quarter which backs on to the Dunloe site.

Agents say the fact that Dunloe has already acquired at least 80 per cent of its proposed development site and could be on site within the year should act in its favour. In contrast, the winner of the shopping centre competition, MDC, has to acquire almost its entire site and compulsory purchase orders are necessary for many of the buildings on its Victoria Square site. One of the attractions of the Victoria Square site is that it will provide a new axis for the retail centre of Belfast.

The MDC scheme is expected to include a department store on the site of the current IDB office in Chichester Street. Several major retail groups, including House of Fraser and Selfridges, expressed interest in becoming anchor tenants in any new shopping centre in Belfast. Other retail multiples seeking accommodation in the city centre include Jane Norman, Racing Green, Sony, Warner Bros, Lacoste, C K Jeans, Lillywhites, Tower Records, Mappin & Webb and S F Cody's Emporium.

The Victoria Square scheme would also include 30,000 sq ft of restaurant space, some 20,000 sq ft of leisure and a major hotel in Churchill House, presently used as Government office accommodation. There would also be 30 luxury apartments overlooking the city centre and the River Lagan.