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| TCH Archives > Sunday Business Post > 2007/01/07 > Major retailers eyeing up Cork shopping centre | ||
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Sunday, January 07, 2007 - By Neil Callanan
Gap, Zara, H&M and the Arcadia Group are all understood to be interested in opening at the €500 million Academy Street shopping centre in Cork, for which planning permission was granted last month. Retail sources said the four largest shops in the centre would be attractive to the international retailers.
The scheme will be developed by O’Callaghan Properties and will add more than 18,500 square metres of retail space to the city centre. There will also be between 60 and 70 apartments. The company believes that more than 1,400 full-time and part-time jobs will be created within the retail complex and that 500 jobs will be created during the construction phase.
The development includes the former head office of The Irish Examiner and will also transform the rundown Faulkener’s Lane into a new retail street linking Patrick’s Street to Emmet Place. The company believes it could commence work as early as March of next year on the scheme.
Planning permission was initially sought last March, but Cork City Council told the company to reduce the highest point of the project from eight floors to six floors.
O’Callaghan Properties is also expected to seek planning permission to develop a site on Half Moon Street early next year. That scheme will include four large retail units measuring around 1,860 square metres each.
That would be expected to appeal more to retailers such as Habitat, which is actively looking for a site in Cork.
O’Callaghan Properties is headed by developer Owen O’Callaghan who has developed most of the shopping centres in Cork, including Mahon Point.
One of the city’s main shopping centres at Wilton is currently on the market and is expected to sell for more than €285 million.
It is being sold by Joe O’Donovan, who is trying to assemble a site for a retail scheme off Patrick Street.
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