The €230 million Mahon Point shopping centre represents just Phase I of a €500 million development by O'Callaghan Properties.
When it is finished in 2009 some 6,000 people will be in full- time and part-time jobs at the development.
The development on 111 acres in Mahon is the single most ambitious property project undertaken in Cork to date. It is the largest mixed-use commercial development in the country outside Dublin.
Phase I, which includes a 150,000 sq ft retail park and an 11-screen Omniplex cinema will employ 2,200 people.
Phase II - which will take place between 2005 and 2009 - will include a four-star, 200 bedroom hotel, a leisure centre, 100,000 sq ft of office space and 100,000 sq ft of hi-tech development.
The shopping centre complex, which features 63 units and cinema covering 250,000 sq ft, will generate rates of around €3 million a year for Cork City Council which granted planning permission for the development in 2002.
Construction on the centre took two years to complete, with employment numbers peaking at 1,000.
It also involved the use of one million concrete blocks, two acres of floor tiles, one acre of roof glazing, two miles of watermain and eight miles of drainage and ducting pipework.