70% of space at £20 million Crumlin shopping centre reserved

More than 70 per cent of the retail space is already committed in the Ashleaf Shopping Centre, which is being built at Crumlin in Dublin 12. The £20 million retail complex is due to open for business in the run up to next Christmas. Dunnes Stores is to be the anchor tenant in the 100,000 sq. ft retail element of the centre with a 55,000 sq. ft supermarket. Dunnes already operates a successful supermarket at its own Crumlin Shopping Centre.

Agents Druker Fanning and Partners advised Dunnes Stores.

According to the promoters, there has been intense competition for the units shops that will trade alongside Dunnes. Rents of £50 to £60 per sq. ft have been achieved for all the standard size units and there is a high level of interest in the remaining shops.

An innovate feature of the development will be a pharmacy of 2,500 sq ft which will have a further 3,000 at first floor level to accommodate several doctors' surgeries. Budget Travel will be paying a rent of £45,000, or £63 per sq ft, for a shop of 700 sq. ft. A 2,300 sq. ft newsagents has already been allocated. The joint letting agents, Lambert Smith Hampton and Mason Owen Lyons, are understood to be in discussions with Birthdays, the greetings cards retailer, and Car Phone Warehouse, for two of the remaining units. There are also several fast-food chains chasing one of the units.

A separate "crockery" restaurant for those wanting a sit down meal is also due to open in the centre.

The Ashleaf complex will have an initial rent roll of £1.4 million and though several institutions have expressed an interest in acquiring the investment, it is not for sale, according to the joint developers, Frank and John Smith of the Smith Group. The brothers spent seven years assembling the 4.3-acre site around their Submarine bar, a landmark hostelry. They also run the Baggot Inn in the city centre and a well-known hardware business.

The Submarine will continue to occupy a pivotal position on the site at Crumlin Cross and when extended and fitted out will have a floor area of 14,000 sq. ft - making it one of the largest in Dublin. The bar will also accommodate a small theatre to be named after Rory O'Connor, a noted Irish dancer who lived in the area.

Although Ashleaf is built on a smaller scale than Liffey Valley, also in west Dublin, it is unlikely to have any of the serious problems facing the Quarryvale centre. Liffey Valley is having great difficulty in attracting customers simply because you need a car to get there. Ashleaf is located in St Agnes's parish where there is a population of 22,000 people, according to Frank Smith. Furthermore, there are 350,000 people living within a 20-minute drive and unlike Liffey Valley, Crumlin has an efficient bus service. Ashleaf is expected to draw many of its regular customers from Rathmines, Rathgar, Walkinstown and Kimmage as well as Crumlin, says Fintan Tierney, of Lambert Smith Hampton.