RetailSector:The €60 million Mount Kennedy Town Centre project gets its formal launch today. The mixed-use complex, right on Newtownmountkennedy's Main Street, has transformed the town and will bring new services and facilities.
Its launch follows the completion of negotiations that will bring in Dunnes Stores as anchor tenant.
The centre includes a mix of retail, residential and also a nursing home, medical centre, gym and crèche. All works should be completed by autumn 2008, according to John Doyle of agent H J Byrne in Bray.
Dwyer Nolan is behind the project that includes the already opened Parkview Hotel on Main Street. The River Valley Park, created as part of the scheme, has also been planted and landscaped.
Dunnes Stores is to occupy the 3,400sq m (35,000sq ft) anchor store and there are 10 other retail units on the Mount Kennedy Town Centre site.
Six units are along the promenade overlooking the new park and four others front onto Main Street adjoining the Parkview Hotel. Seven of the 11 are currently available.
The retail units range from 53sq m (570sq ft) up to 88sq m (947sq ft) and are supplied as shell and core units.
All offer good frontage and allow pedestrian access both from Main Street and also the two-storey car-park being provided in the centre. The average price for a 55sq m (592sq ft) unit on the promenade or a 65sq m (700sq ft) unit on Main Street is €595,000.
The development includes 110 duplexes and apartments, but these will not be on offer until 2008, according to Doyle. All other elements are underway or making good progress, he added. "The street end is moving forward at a dramatic pace.
"The whole thing is really transforming the entire village."
One of the street front units has been allocated and the tenant hopes to open before Christmas, although it is uncertain whether the street units will be ready that early.
Meanwhile, work is well advanced on the 549sq m (5,909sq ft) crèche and preliminary works have begun for the retirement home with sheltered apartments and the medical centre.
The nursing home should be ready for fit-out by late summer 2008, Doyle believes.
The 2,666sq m (28,697sq ft) shell for the gym is built and available to purchase or rent, says Doyle. Dunnes should be open for business by March or April 2008.
The off-street two-storey car-parking lot will provide spaces for more than 300 vehicles in addition to spaces for residents' cars.
Doyle said traders at Mount Kennedy Town Centre will also receive a boost from residents in a new development nearby that will provide 925 dwellings when completed.
The Parkview Hotel faces onto Main Street and incorporates a 19th century village house which now serves as Synnotts restaurant. The foyer and function room open onto an extensive canopied south-facing terrace overlooking River Valley Park.
The centre is 17 miles from Dublin, 11 miles to Wicklow, three miles to Delgany and four miles to Greystones.
