Leading British designer retailer, House of Fraser, has entered into an agreement with development company Multi Development Corporation (MDC) to open a store in Belfast creating more than 500 jobs.
The chain store will be the anchor tenant in a new £250 million (€397 million) development that forms part of the regeneration of the city's Victoria Square area. The project is scheduled to begin early next year, with the store due to open in 2006.
News of the jobs comes just days after Shorts in Belfast said it was cutting 460 jobs as part of plans to axe 2,000 workers worldwide following the downturn in the aircraft sector since the terrorist attacks of September 11th last.
The job cuts were on top of 416 permanent and 527 temporary workers and sub-contractors who have left through voluntary or compulsory redundancy.
Mr John Coleman, chief executive of House of Fraser, said the group was delighted with its planned entry into the Northern market, adding he believed Belfast represented a strong market for the retailer.
"The store is yet another step forward in our expansion programme as we take advantage of the many areas in the UK which we have identified as strong markets for House of Fraser," he said.
Mr Nico Veldhuis, managing director of MDC, said securing the House of Fraser as a tenant in the new Victoria Square development was a great boost for shopping in the city.
"This is the sort of quality retailer we said the Victoria Square regeneration initiative would attract, a name new for the city," he said.
"As well as bringing many other major brands to Belfast we will also have smaller units for locally owned retailers."
He added his company was committed to attracting some of Europe's most sought-after retailers to become tenants. The new outlet will be 200,000 square feet, twice the size of any other department store in the North.
MDC is part of Amstell and MCD NV, an international development group that specialises in city centre development projects.
The company's regeneration of Victoria Square consists of almost 600,000 square feet of new shopping space. It incorporates 17 different buildings and at its centre are new squares and gardens that will be open to the public 24 hours a day.
The project comprises two multi-level covered streets linking to a 35-metre diameter glass dome that will be one of the largest covered spaces in a shopping development anywhere in Europe.
The development will not only feature a large shopping area but will also include restaurants and a range of leisure facilities. It is the largest development undertaken in Belfast for more than 10 years.
