Shopping Centres : With phase one a runaway success, retailers will be anxious to secure space in phase two at the Pavilions. Justin Comiskey reports
The second phase of the Pavilions shopping centre in Swords is being launched this week and will be anchored by an 11-screen multiplex cinema to be run by Movies @ Swords.
Extending to 15,000sq m (160,000sq ft), phase two at the Pavilions has retail and restaurant accommodation at ground and first floor levels with the multiplex cinema on the first floor. In all, some 20 units will be added to the mix and the shop sizes will range from 929-1,858sq m (2,000-10,000sq ft).
Phase two, which occupies a site of two acres, links with the existing centre at the Main Street, Swords entrance and will have a glazed roof covering a large central civic plaza area.
Hamilton Osborne King and Druker Fanning & Partners, joint agents for phase two, suggest the new retail units will have a strong fashion focus, particularly aimed at serving the younger market.
The Movies @ Swords multiplex will add a strong leisure element to Swords and its environs. It will be the second Movies @ outlet to open in Dublin, after the company's first venture in Dundrum.
In June, it was announced that the leading Irish pension fund Eircom Superannuation is to pre-fund phase two at the Pavilions at a cost of around €40 million. The fund already owns the first phase of the centre which it acquired for an estimated €100 million-plus.
The first phase of the centre, which opened in May 2001, has 23,225sq m (250,000sq ft) of retail facilities on two levels with Dunnes Stores and Superquinn occupying anchor stores.
It has 52 retail outlets, a restaurant and 1,050-space multistorey car-park as well as 650 surface level car-parking spaces.
The centre has proved a huge draw in the area and there should be no shortage of retailers anxious to take space in phase two.
Meanwhile, the developers of the Pavilions, Flynn & O'Flaherty, recently lodged a planning application for the third and final phase of the centre which will include about 7,432sq m (80,000sq ft) of retail space, a leisure centre, medical consulting units, a crèche and 302 apartments.
Most of the residential units will be located in six-storey blocks with retail facilities on the ground floor.
In addition, the former Superquinn store close by is also to be redeveloped by a separate company to include a large outlet for Penneys and over 100 apartments.
Plans for this development, which were unveiled in July by Fingal County Council, include a new street to link the Pavilions shopping centre and the new Penneys scheme. To be known as Foster Way, this narrow street will include a 350-space car-park, 40 apartments and over 2,787sq m (30,000sq ft) of retail space.
