Two leading UK multiples are to open giant stores in a new retail park which is nearing completion at Blanchardstown Town Centre in west Dublin. Electrical retailers Currys and its sister company, PC World, which specialises in computer hardware and software, will be anchor tenants in a stylish new retail park which is expected to broaden the appeal of the Blanchardstown centre.
Currys will trade out of a 30,000-square-foot superstore, while PC World will rent 20,000 square feet. Three other multiples are also to open in the park. Sports Division will have its largest Irish store with 10,000 square feet while Hickey's Fabrics and Pet Shop will each have 5,000 square feet.
The decision by Currys and PC World to open their first Irish outlets at Blanchardstown will be seen as a strong endorsement for the centre less than a year after it opened. The intense competition for the five available units, has meant that a number of high-profile traders will be hoping to secure space in the next phase.
The rent levels agreed will be the highest for retail warehousing in this country. The 5,000-squarefoot units have been let at £17.50 per square foot, while the rents for the largest stores will average £15 per square foot.
The close proximity of the retail park to the shopping centre - a mere two minutes' walk - was a strong selling point for the new development. An even more important reason, according to Maurice Green, development director of Green Property Company, is the fact that as a regional shopping centre, Blanchardstown is now attracting an average of 250,000 shoppers a week. He says the catchment area extends as far away as Cavan, Dundalk, Wicklow and Tullamore.
With the shopping centre now trading well, Green Property is to move ahead with plans for more retail warehousing. The second phase could have around 130,000 square feet and retail warehousing may eventually account for an area of 345,000 square feet compared with 485,000 square feet currently in the shopping centre. Cosgrave Homes is also planning to include retail warehousing in a mixed development earmarked for an adjoining site.
The huge demand for retail warehousing in Blanchardstown underlines an increasing preference by major multiples to locate beside out-of-town shopping centres rather than as stand-alone operations along busy suburban roads. A small number of retail warehouses operating in isolation in the Dublin suburbs have had mixed fortunes, which may discourage developers from embarking on similar projects in the future.
Green Property Company has not skimped on anything to ensure that its first block of retail warehouses sets a new standard in the Irish market. The doubleheight buildings sitting high above the Navan Road dual-carriageway have bricks matching those in the shopping centre, continuous shop fronts and large steel panels, which greatly enhance the facade. A canopy will run the length of the building which fronts on to a separate 360-space car-park.
Currys and PC World are currently fitting out their stores which will be open in good time for the busy Christmas trade. Their agent, Fintan Tierney of Lambert Smith Hampton, said both stores would have a spectacular fit-out which would put retail warehousing on a new level in Ireland.
Green is spending £5.5 million on the 70,000-square-foot building but will be well compensated with a rent roll of over £1 million per annum.
The company is currently drawing up a master plan for a 32-acre site beside the shopping centre now that the Department of Education is not to exercise its option to take 20 acres for a regional technical college.
Outline planning permission is to be sought for a mixed development, which will include 130,000 square feet of retail warehousing, a 200-bedroom hotel and a campus-style office scheme with about 85,000 square feet of space. The offices will be aimed primarily at tele-marketing companies preferring out-of-town locations, such as Blanchardstown, which are strategically located beside the new road network around the city.
The Blanchardstown centre will mark its first anniversary on October 16th. It has already captured a significant share of the retail market and as the range of other facilities come on stream over the the next year, further benefits will obviously flow to the shopping centre.
Next to open will be a Leisureplex Centre, a 50,000square-foot entertainment complex for young people. A site beside it has been set aside for local authority offices, a library and an arts complex.
Another vacant site will shortly disappear when work commences on another commercial block, which will have a bar - it will be sold in shell condition - an offlicence, restaurant, bookmakers and video retail outlet. A short distance away, a drive-through restaurant is to be developed and leased to McDonald's.
Green Property has also earmarked a one-acre site for a motor showrooms. Several companies are understood to be interested in the site which, because of its prime location, is probably worth about £750,000.
In the meantime, another wing of the shopping centre to open shortly will provide a range of services including a post office, credit union office and an estate agency.
The first floor will be set aside as a medical hall to be used by a doctor, dentist, chiropodist and other medics.
