Anyone who expected the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to be wound up in the aftermath of the scandal involving the €412 million Irish Glass bottle site can think again.
The authority’s five-year term of office formally ended last weekend without much notice but rather than allow the semi-State body to slip into oblivion, Environment Minister Phil Hogan promptly granted the board a month-long extension to complete a number of duties, not least signing off on the annual report and accounts for 2011.
One of the first tasks of the new board, to be named by June 1st, will be to decide whether to seek a buyer for the CHQ shopping centre in the IFSC, which has consistently failed to attract sufficient support from either traders or shoppers since it opened five years ago.
The DDDA spent the guts of €50 million on converting the 19th- century warehouse and despite a high quality fit-out it has never managed to attract much of the workforce in the IFSC never mind the general public. It has its own Luas stop but unlike any other shopping centre it does not have a car park. The vast majority of the shops are currently vacant so there is little prospect at this stage of the authority turning the business around.
To help it sort out the problem, the authority will shortly appoint an estate agent who will advise it on whether to go for a fire sale or to examine the prospects of leasing the distinctive building to a commercial enterprise.
