Arnotts has reworked its Henry Street project that aims to provide the historic Dublin department store with new premises alongside a new city centre retail mall. A decision on its latest planning application is expected before the end of the year, but the new project sees the 315,000-sq ft anchor street relocated to a standalone building at the junction of Abbey Street and Liffey Street, . This important change clears the way for a new street that will lead right through the site from O'Connell Street to Liffey Street, where it will emerge directly opposite Marks & Spencer.
According to ex-Centros managing director John Laker, whose new vehicle Laker Developments is Arnotts' development consultant, the revisions improve the scheme's permeability but more importantly they have a big impact on its financial viability. “The key is that the new approach allows us to phase the scheme: we will build the new Arnotts store at the rear of the site and once they have move in then we'll develop the new units on the Henry Street side.”he explains.
“This way less funding is needed at any one time and part of the site is always income-producing. And from Arnotts' point of view the new approach has the benefit of continuity of trade.” The department store had taken 90,000 sq ft in the Jervis Centre with the aim of decanting there while the existing store was redeveloped. Now that won't be necessary but according to Laker the retailer has no intention of giving up the extra space as it is trading very well with a focus on young fashion brands.
This in turn has allowed Arnotts to increase its range of fashion concessions, with the Spanish fashion giant Desigual and George Davis's GIVe among the recent arrivals. The fact that Arnotts is enhancing its fashion offer can only be good news for the new scheme, Laker believes.
And he also takes heart from the fact that Penney's is keen to expand its 60,000-sq ft store, which forms the scheme's O'Connell Street frontage, even though it is only minutes from the fashion discounter's flagship headquarters.
In addition the revised design, by architects HKR, has increased the number of mall units from 45 to 55. All of these will trade over two storeys some off ground level and others off an upper-level walkway reminiscent of the Rows in Chester. “The change has allowed us to create more value at minimal cost,” explains Laker.
King Sturge and Savills will be responsible for letting the units.
In other changes a 10,000-sq ft rooftop restaurant/bar is proposed above the new department store. This will enjoy uninterrupted views across the Liffey and the whole of southern Dublin and will have its own street-level access, allowing it to trade beyond the opening hours of the department store. Twelve other restaurant units are scattered throughout the scheme.
The 113 residential units have been relocated into a standalone block, which means they can be developed as and when the residential market permits. The final element of the scheme will be a 150-bed four-star hotel, which is already attracting interest from US operators.
Inevitably the progress of the scheme depends on the vagaries of the market and of an bord pleanala, but Laker has pencilled in a start on site in 2011. Building the new Arnotts store will take 30 months, and the new mall a similar amount of time, meaning that the scheme is unlikely to be completed before 2016. And by then the Irish market could look very different.
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