Dunnes agrees to open in Point Village shopping centre

Dunnes is to pay around €40m for space in Point Village now that a legal row has been settled

A MARKETING campaign is to be launched next week to attract leading retailers to trade alongside Dunnes Stores in a new shopping centre nearing completion at the Point Village in the Dublin docklands.

The move comes following the ending of a legal dispute between Dunnes Stores and developer Harry Crosbie over a February, 2008, agreement under which the multiple was to pay €46 million, plus VAT, for the anchor store in the centre.

The issue was raised in the Commercial Court and was eventually resolved in direct negotiations between the two parties.

Though the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, it is understood that Dunnes Stores will end up paying in the region of €40 million for a slightly smaller outlet.

They will now trade out of two rather than three levels with a total floor area of over 10,000sq m (107,640sq ft), about 464sq m (5,000sq ft) less than originally contracted for.

Dunnes plans to use the basement as a food store and the much enlarged ground floor area for a mixture of fashion and homewares.

Because of the recession and the fall in consumer spending, Dunnes did not go ahead with plans earlier this year to open stores in Naas and Waterford.

Shoppers visiting the new retail facilities at the Point will have the use of a three-storey basement car park with 850 spaces.

Larry Brennan of letting agent Savills said it was working towards an opening of the new shopping centre in the middle of 2011. There was already good interest in both the shop units and restaurant and cafes which would have a combined space of 4,000sq m (43,056sq ft).

Savills and joint letting agent CB Richard Ellis are likely to be quoting in the region of €484 per sq m (€45 per sq ft) for the 13 shops on the ground floor which will range in size from 21sq m-260sq m (226sq ft- 2,797sq ft).

Some of the 12 restaurants and cafes would be located in the shopping mall and others will open directly onto the newly-developed square and 02 Arena.

The Point’s shopping facilities form part of the District Centre, a distinctive new block containing the recently opened 252-bedroom Gibson Hotel and conference centre.

The development also includes a multiplex cinema- currently the subject of negotiations between Mr Crosbie and a cinema operator- and 10,000sq m (107,639sq ft) of offices with two separate entrance foyers on East Wall Road to allow for either single or multiple occupancy.

The mix of facilities at the Point Village are likely to benefit greatly from the opening on site of a new terminus for the Luas red line service.

Apart from catering for the increasing number of people living in the docklands, the shopping centre is also expected to draw many customers from the densely populated areas on the north and south sides of the Liffey.

The District Centre was designed by architect Ronan Phelan of Scott Tallon Walker.