RetailMarket:The opening of CHQ will help to animate the IFSC area which many have complained is lifeless after 5pm, writes Emma Cullinan
People came in their hoards to Dublin's docklands on Sunday - showing that the Irish still like a good party and are interested in new happenings.
The opening of the CHQ building (on Customs House Quay, hence the name) may have seemed as if it had been a long time coming - with various schemes mooted for the venue over the years - but the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) is happy that it has the right tenants in now: a mix of smart shops, coffee bars and an art gallery, plus more exhibition space at the front.
This area is kicking off with an art exhibition, known as Scratch, and next to arrive will be 12 Christmas trees, created by various designers including Guggi.
"It did take a while," says Loretta Lambkin of the DDDA, "and we had a few different starts with it but we are very happy with where we are now.
"It's turning out to be a lifestyle destination rather than a standard high street. We have been very choosy about our tenants and have turned people away."
The opening of CHQ will help to animate the IFSC area which many have complained is lifeless after 5pm.
It is hoped that CHQ will attract people at weekends and in the evenings, especially as more restaurants open in the vaults below the ground floor, just as Ely has done.
The goal was to first fill the ground floor, a task which should be complete early next year.
Bannon Commercial is handling the lettings, which have a guide price of €800 per sq m (€74.32 per sq ft).
Along one side, the stores measure around 55sq m (592sq ft) each while those on the other side measure 110sq m (1,184sq ft) and there are three of each left to rent (some stores have taken two units together).
While the official opening is next spring, it was decided to open now as there is already a good mix of shops and Meadows & Byrne, with its first city centre store, was keen to open before Christmas.
Certainly people responded to the invitation to partake of mince pies and mulled wine (7Up for the younger generation) last Sunday, with plenty of customers wandering around the new Meadows & Byrne store, with its Esprit Home and Environment Furniture concessions.
The latter is a company that has hit the zeitgeist with its chunky, generous furniture made from the timber taken from old buildings in Brazil.
Those stopping for cappucini realised how this building allows for al fresco eating indoors as each shop is essentially a glass box falling well short of the ceiling leaving the classic ironwork structure free to express itself beneath a glass roof.
This building was a former tobacco and wine warehouse built in 1820 which has been beautifully renovated. Other successful examples of restoring former industrial buildings that have stunning ironwork, albeit on a bigger scale, include Covent Garden in London whereas the French regret demolishing the Les Halles market place in Paris, in the late 1960s, and replacing it with a mediocre looking shopping centre.
Time will tell how CHQ will fare. Everything will be in place by next March and then the building will probably work well in conjunction with other activities around it: perhaps a walk along the campshires; a visit to events at the neighbouring dock, including the Dublin Theatre Festival; pre-theatre shopping and eating when the Abbey Theatre opens across the way; and then there is plenty for the lunchtime crowd, including treatments at the Nue Blue Eriu salon.
