The credit crunch means the shopping centre development boom is over. So what schemes are on site, and what schemes have been put on ice, asks Hugh Oram
This time last year, 2009 was reported as coming on strong in terms of new shopping centre plans and openings. Since then, the Irish economy has gone into meltdown in line with global trends. However, it’s still possible to find developers and estate agents who are reasonably positive about the situation.
A realistic note is struck by Marie Hunt, research director at CBRE in Dublin. “ We are not aware of any major schemes due to start this year and most schemes are being put on hold in the current environment. This is mainly due to the difficulties in sourcing funding to proceed with these developments,” she says.
Hunt doesn’t believe the situation will improve until such time as funding is more freely available and economic prospects are more positive. Ireland is currently suffering from a nosedive in consumer confidence and spending. She adds that considering the funding backdrop, there are going to be greater requirements for pre- lettings; “as a result, schemes will be longer coming out of the ground”.
John O’Sullivan, the developer of the Athlone Town Centre, takes a positive note from the slowdown: “Schemes such as ours in Athlone that were lucky enough to get out of the traps in time [18 months ago] have the benefit of time to grow and develop their dominant position as regional centres without any competition from new openings within their catchment areas.”
So how’s the line-up looking for 2009?
BRAY
The ambitious Pizarro plan, costed at €2bn, is awaiting the results of its appeal to An Bord Pleanala. The developers had put substantial changes in place in the design to meet the board’s objections. In nearby Greystones, the initial planning application for the Charlesland centre has been turned down; if permission is eventually granted, actual opening could be five years ahead.
CARLOW
The third phase of the Fairgreen shopping centre, owned by Parker Green International, is still due to happen, but queries to Parker Green and the management of the centre went unanswered. Phase III is due to include 34,000 sq m of retail and a multi-storey car park.
CLONMEL
The Showgrounds shopping centre, adjacent to Clonmel town centre, is one of the few new schemes due to open in Ireland this year that is actually opening as planned. It should be open in September. It will have 13,000 sq m of retail, with Marks & Spencer as the anchor with its first store in the south-east of Ireland, taking up 2,136 sq m of retail space. It will also have a second anchor, not as yet disclosed, and 30 other retail units, varying in size from 116 to 2,139 sq m and around 300 car parking spaces. One challenge faced by this centre is the lack of medium to high end comparison shopping in the 241,000 population catchment area.
CORK
A couple of schemes in Cork city centre should be completed and ready later this year. Opera Avenue, costed at €100m, will have just over 10,000 sq m of retail, while the Half Moon Street development, with 11,000 sq m of retail, is also scheduled to open
during 2009.
Owen O’Callaghan’s Academy Street scheme is due to open this year and Topshop is reported to have signed up. Another Cork city centre project, 9-12 Maylor Street, is likely to be completed next year, providing 3,400 sq m on multiple levels. Rent levels will be significantly more attractive than the current going rate in and around Patrick Street.
The Douglas shopping centre, where Tesco is the anchor, is being substantially revamped by Neil Love’s Douglas Developments. A new Tesco, with around 8,300 sq m of retail, is due to open here in May and the new look centre will also have a multi- storey car park.
DUBLIN
At Dundrum Town Centre, a flurry of new retail openings in the run up to Christmas worked wonders for trading. And the openings continue, including an imminent standalone H&M children’s store of nearly 1,000 sq m. The main centre is now full. Planning issues continue on the 46,000-sq m phase II so it’s unlikely construction will start next year, with a three to four year build, according to Don Nugent, centre director.
The big extension to Liffey Valley shopping centre will double the size of the centre; some new units may be open in time for next Christmas. At the Blanchardstown Centre, the 29,000 sq m of retail in the Yellow Mall extension had been due to open this year, but won’t now be open until some time next year. No comment was forthcoming from Green Property.
The Point Village project is on track to open in the first half of next year; some of it had been scheduled for this year. The old Point Theatre was rebuilt to form the O2 ampitheatre and this opened on schedule at the end of 2008. Dunnes will be the anchor in the 23,000 sq m of retail planned for the Point Village, but it hasn’t been revealed whether any other retailers have yet signed up.
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Chartered Land is progressing its Dublin Central plans |
The Charlestown shopping centre in Finglas is due to get a modest extension this year, with units varying from 80 to 3,300 sq m. The two big schemes for Dublin city, Arnotts and the Chartered Land project for the Carlton cinema site in Upper O’Connell Street, are still on track. They are both still at the planning stage and some way from the start of construction, but Tom Coffey, chief executive of the Dublin City Business Association, says that both schemes should be completed in about five years time, just in time for the end of the recession.
Treasury Holdings had been planning to start a major revamp of the Stillorgan shopping centre, the oldest in the country, but times have changed and retailers there, according to trade sources, have recently been offered new five-year leases.
One big scheme in north Dublin is definitely opening this summer, the long awaited Ikea. The building, with 30,500 sq m of retail, has been completed for some time, but opening has depended on road upgrades being completed. It will include a 550-seat restaurant, a bistro, a Swedish food hall and creche. Garry Deakin, store manager, says: “We’ll be ready to welcome our first customers on July 27”. Other furniture retailers in Ireland are concerned about the impact of Ikea, as sales of big ticket items have been badly hit in the recession.
KILLARNEY
The Torc shopping centre was set to open this year, but planning issues have held it up, even though some construction work has already started. The scheme is costed at €200m and is due to include 18,000 sq m of retail, but it could be into 2011 before it’s ready.
LIMERICK
The Crescent Shopping Centre in Dooradoyle had been set to get a flagship Marks & Spencer store this year, but the big extension planned at the centre has been turned down by Limerick County Council. Now, influential voices in the city are saying that An Bord Pleanala should insist that this new Marks & Spencer outlet should be shifted from the Crescent shopping centre to the planned €350 Opera shopping centre. The Opera plans have already been revised but the planning appeals board still has to decide on them.
Meanwhile, the Parkway Valley shopping centre on Limerick’s outskirts, with about 41,000 sq m of retail, and over 2,000 car parking spaces, was to have opened this year, but local people were concerned over the past few months that the inactive cranes on the site might mean that one of Munster’s biggest retail schemes was going to collapse. However, Dunloe Ewart, the developer, and Bannon Commercial, the letting agent, say that it will be completed, for opening in spring 2010, with Tesco as the anchor.
NAAS
The new Naas shopping centre scheme, off South Main Street, is due to open in November, although there are suggestions from Savills, the joint letting agents with Sherry FitzGerald O’Reilly, that it may not be ready until early 2010. Dunnes will be the anchor on two levels, with 6,481 sq m selling food, fashion and homewares. Overall, the scheme will have 16,500 sq m of retail, in 45 other units, in a town and county that is already well provided with shopping centres. Liam O’Farrell, of the developers, Marshalsea Property Company, says that he has had a great response from retailers, despite the downturn, as they like the central location of the scheme.
SLIGO
Treasury Holdings has been given the green light by An Bord Pleanala for an €80m shopping centre development in the centre of Sligo, but construction is likely to take two to three years.
THURLES
Dunnes is the anchor in the Thurles shopping centre, developed by Clancy Construction, and the extension to the centre is due to open this March.
WATERFORD
The Ferrybank shopping centre, which has been developed by Deerland Construction of Kilkenny, had been due to open last autumn, but slow letting of units meant that the opening has been postponed. It’s now set for opening at the end of October, with Dunnes as the anchor, in 6,000 sq m, or a third smaller than originally planned, as well as an additional, similar amount of retail allocated to other retailers, in 23 retail units. Dunnes plans to sell food, fashions and homewares.
The Newgate Centre in Waterford city centre has now got full planning permission, but completion may take two to three years. Peter Levins, associate director with Bannon Commercial, says: “Strong interest is reported from several large fashion brands not currently trading in Waterford”. It’s possible that the Crystal Village development by Parker Green International may be partially ready by the end of this year, but no comment was forthcoming from the Newry-based group.
