A LARGE new shopping centre under construction in the north Dublin town of Balbriggan is easily the most significant retail development moving ahead in the present difficult business climate.
The €80 million project will include the largest Tesco store in the Dublin area and is due to open for business early in 2011.
Millfield Shopping Centre will have a total retail area of 17,000sq m (almost 183,000sq ft), including 30 unit shops and the Tesco store which will extend over two internal street levels – its first such configuration in Ireland.
Around 300 workers are presently employed in the construction of the centre and a further 450 jobs are expected to be created when the centre opens for business.
Construction of the 952-space basement car park is almost complete and, as well as the high class shopping facilities, developer Parkway is to provide a broad mix of other facilities including two civic plazas, a medical centre, leisure complex and a large restaurant and café area.
The overall design has been handled by noted architects AD Wejchert, whose work in the retail area has included Blanchardstown Town Centre and the Gaiety Centre in Dublin’s South King Street, where the tenants include Zara, HM and Warehouse. The design takes full advantage of the location with a 110-metre curving glazed street forming the spine of the centre and culminating in large “lantern bays” with panoramic views over Balbriggan.
Stephen Murray of Jones Lang LaSalle, letting agents along with Savills, says Balbriggan was officially the fastest growing “large town” in Ireland but suffered from a lack of retail facilities.
For obvious reasons there is a strong demand for a centre such as Millfield which would act as the main shopping and services hub for the north Fingal region, he said. The excellent access from the improved local road network, including the link to the nearby M1, means less hassle for shoppers.
Murray says that the layout of the shopping centre has been significantly revised during the design stage to include a convenience shopping-led scheme with complementary branded retailers and fashion shopping rather than a comparison fashion-led scheme.
“These design revisions have borne fruit as it is the only major retail project in the country to have commenced construction in the past 12 months,” he says.
The letting agents say that Millfield has what they call a “rental tone” of the order of €500 per sq m (€46.45 per sq ft). Around two-thirds of the space is either contracted or in legals, according to Murray.
Units already committed are for a butchers, restaurant, dry cleaners, barbers, betting office, computer games and hair salon. Negotiations are also advanced with pharmacy operators and decisions are due shortly from a number of fashion retailers.
Murray says that with the shopping centre due to open in the spring of 2011 – by which time most commentators are expecting that an economic recovery will be well on the way – it seems set to be the first new scheme to benefit from a “proportionate and sustainable form of retail development”.
