The owners of St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre in Dublin have revamped their €100 million rejuvenation plan for the centre in response to Council concerns.
In revised plans lodged with Dublin City Council, Davy Real Estate has added additional retail, food and beverage uses along with a two-screen cinema to the development.
In March, the council told Davy Real Estate entity, DTDL Ltd that it had “serious concerns” over the planned reduction in retail, food and beverage floor space in the rejuvenation mixed use scheme for the St Stephen’s Green Centre.
In revised plans, the applicants are proposing to replace a planned first-floor office plan with a new mall with additional retail, food/beverage and cultural uses.
DTLD Ltd are also planning a new cinema in the basement with capacity for 180 people along with art exhibition space at first-floor level and a new “town-hall” space.
The applicants are also proposing a redesign of the scheme by BKD Architects.
In a planning report lodged, planning consultants John Spain & Associates state that the revisions also include a new publicly accessible restaurant at fourth-floor level with scenic lifts.
Mr Spain states that the revised plans “include for a variety of uses across multiple floors within the development”.
Property Consultants Bannon have told the council that the redevelopment will be very positive for Dublin’s retail core and improve the offering in terms of retail, food and beverage while addressing the current deficit of larger retail units in the centre.
Bannon state that the upper floor retail space in the existing centre “is fundamentally flawed and has in the long term proven to be unviable and of no benefit to the centre”.
The report states that the upper floors have failed to attract sustainable retail operators for over 30 years and “are now either vacant or occupied by retailers on life support with unviable businesses”.
Bannon also state that the quality of retailer interest in the ground-floor units has lagged the market due to the poor layout, configuration and profile of the units.
