An Bord Pleanála has granted permission for a €445 million, mixed retail and commercial development at Mahon Point in Cork, over four years after the project was first proposed by O'Callaghan Properties in the city.
The decision is a triumph for the company owned and operated by the Cork-based developer, Mr Owen O'Callaghan. Mr O'Callaghan also developed the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre complex in west county Dublin, where over 4,000 people are employed.
Throughout the planning appeal process, the project received the wholehearted support of the Mahon and neighbouring communities, for whom the job prospects will be huge. The projection is that when completed, Mahon Point will offer some 6,000 full-time and part-time jobs as well as a further 2,000 during the construction stage over a five-year period. It is one of the largest mixed-use developments ever undertaken in Cork or in the State.
Last year, Cork Corporation approved the Mahon Point scheme and found it to be consistent with the type of planned developments the city will seek in the coming decades to help it grow and develop infrastructure. Yesterday the Cork city manager, Mr Joe Gavin, welcomed the decision and praised the city council which had agreed to the earlier planning permission.
Two objections were lodged against the corporation's decision. The objectors were Douglas Developments, a Clayton Love jnr company, which owns two shopping centres in nearby Douglas, and RGDTA, supported by the Musgrave Group, which operates the Centra franchise. During its long gestation period, the project was the subject of rigorous scrutiny by Cork Corporation which imposed strict guidelines, which Mr Gavin noted yesterday were retained in the Bord Pleanála decision upholding the original planning permission.
The Mahon Community Association, which represents a huge population catchment area in the vicinity of the proposed development, has been one of the strongest advocates of the project on the grounds that it could create unheard of employment opportunities in an area that badly needs a boost. According to Mr Finbar Murphy, spokesman for the association, the project will also bring infrastructure to Mahon which would never have come to the area in its absence. There would be jobs for school-leavers as well as for family members who wished to work part-time, he said. "There will be money from the developers for community-based initiatives as well, which are badly needed here. This is seen as a great day for Mahon," he added.
The first phase of the project will begin in October at a cost of €76 million. It is expected that most of the Mahon Point jobs will come on stream within two years of start up. The development will include a business park, office and hi-tech facilities, a retail park and shopping centre, a national trade centre, a 150-bedroom hotel, cineplex, leisure centre and office accommodation. It will house a department store, restaurants, as well as a supermarket and 40 smaller retail units. Some 700 construction jobs will be created immediately when the project gets under way in October.
Mr O'Callaghan yesterday welcomed the decision. However, he said the news had come with a bitter-sweet tinge for everyone associated with the company in view of the untimely death of his daughter, Hazel, the week before last, following an accident.