P J Walls has marked the start of development work on its €350 million development at the Malahide Road by signing up four-star hotel operator Hilton to run a 166-bedroom hotel on the site.

The development, which is at the Malahide Road/Northern Cross junction, is three miles from Dublin Airport, five miles from the city centre and offers easy access to the M50, a new DART station and the nearby Clare Hall Shopping Centre.

The Hilton Dublin Airport Hotel, expected to be completed in spring 2005, is an integral part of a large residential, retail and office development on a 20-acre site that also includes a proposed new town centre by Dublin City Council.

Expected to create 110 jobs in the area, the hotel will have seven meeting rooms, a 160-seat restaurant, bar, 60 sq m (646 sq ft) fitness centre, car-parking for 166 cars and a 350 sq m (3,767 sq ft) conference centre.

A new €2 million 450-metre boulevard-style avenue lined with trees will also replace a section of the Malahide Road in front of the hotel.

Nearly 700 one, two and three-bedroom apartments are proposed for the development site ranging in size from 42-93 sq m (452-1,000 sq ft). The first phase of apartments is scheduled for launch this autumn with prices starting from €225,000.

Included in the development are 14 retail units of 50-100 sq m (538-1,076 sq ft), a food outlet of 1,000 sq m (10,764 sq ft), four high-spec office blocks of some 4,000 sq m (43,056 sq ft) each, and a 450 sq m (4,844 sq ft) crèche.

"The Hilton Dublin Airport Hotel is an important first step in this landmark development on the Malahide Road," said Pat Veale, managing director of P J Walls Group.

Wolfgang Neumann, president of Hilton UK and Ireland, said: "This second Hilton for Dublin will not only perfectly complement our existing Hilton Dublin property, but will provide much-needed award-winning quality hotel accommodation and service to the corporate and leisure markets of the airport area."