Lidl is expanding its footprint in south county Dublin with the purchase from a Lithuanian billionaire of the largely vacant Shankill Shopping Centre, where it plans to open a "state of the art" new store.

Lidl declined to disclose the price it paid, but the centre was recently valued by its owners at more than €8.7 million. Bilaro, a company linked to Lithuanian retail magnate Nerijus Numavicius that sold the site, paid about €6 million for it in 2012 and extensively remodelled the centre before selling it.

Accounts filed recently for Bilaro reveal the sale closed on July 14th. While the price is not outlined in company documents, it is disclosed that about €8.3 million from the proceeds was paid to another company linked to Mr Numavicius. This would appear to suggest that it was sold for a price close to its book value.

Tail end of boom

The once neglected centre was originally slated for a Superquinn supermarket at the tail end of the boom, as the site was owned by the Bernard McNamara consortium that also owned Superquinn.

Bilaro bought it during the crash, and remodelled the centre with a large supermarket-style anchor unit. A handful of tenants remained on during the works, including a pharmacy, a Chinese takeaway and a hairdresser.

Lidl said it has not yet finalised the plans for Shankill, but said it would “build the most modern state of the art store” on the site.

When asked if the tenants would remain or whether it would seek to redevelop it as a Lidl-only site, it said “early indications are it will be a mixed-use development as the space would allow for additional units”.

Bilaro had been expected to open a supermarket there this year, but work abruptly halted in the spring. Despite being a major suburb of Dublin, Shankill currently has no major supermarket.