ShoppingCentres: Construction is finally underway on a large scale, €30 million mixed use development in the heart of Sligo.

The Quayside Shopping Centre includes offices and apartments and will be the city's first centre with a multi-storey car-park.

Swangale Developments Ltd received planning permission for an earlier design some time ago but re-lodged for additional modified planning permission.

Sligo Borough Council granted this and Sisk has now begun construction on the 3.5-acre site encompassing the old Buttermarket and Sligo Champion sites at Wine Street. Completion is set for October 2004.

The new centre will provide valuable new retail space and a much-needed focal point for Sligo.

The scheme is located opposite the existing city car-park and will be accessed via Wine Street, adjacent to O'Connell Street, which is the main shopping street in Sligo.

It will have frontage onto Wine Street, the main pedestrian access point, Lower Quay Street, which will provide vehicular access and Quay Street, which offers the department store anchor alternative access.

The overall scheme is on four levels, with two levels for the retail element. In addition there will be 11 office units and 64 apartments, with the residential units attracting Section 23 tax relief.

The multi-storey will provide parking for 420 cars.

There will be a total of 24 retail units, 13 of which will front onto a plaza streetscape, with an additional seven units and a department store located in the shopping mall area and two units on Lower Quay Street.

SuperValu will operate out of a 2,790 sq m (30,031 sq ft) unit at lower ground floor level to anchor the scheme.

Units are available in sizes from 63 to 598 sq m (678 to 6,436 sq ft). The department store anchor will reach about 2,200 sq m (23,680 sq ft).

There is significant local support for the scheme, according to Mr James Quinlan of agent CB Richard Ellis Gunne, joint selling agent with Fitzgerald Property Consultants.

Sligo had suffered over the years due to a lack of suitable retail space close to the city centre, he added.

"Quayside Shopping Centre now offers a diverse range of footplates for retailers looking to expand their operations into Sligo city."

He said there were also a number of national and international retailers seeking suitable space in Sligo over the past few years.

The new centre would open up opportunities for them.