Dunnes Stores is to be the anchor tenant in Edward Square, a new retail centre being developed beside Eyre Square Shopping Centre in Galway. The multiple was in competition with Marks & Spencer for the 65,000 sq ft store, which will link in to the adjoining centre at two levels. The £25 million Edward Square complex has been pre-let by developer Gerry Barrett in advance of the official opening on November 23rd. Edmund Douglas of Douglas Newman Good Commercial advised the developer and Druker Fanning and Partners acted for Dunnes.
The choice of Dunnes for the main store will be seen as a major coup by the Irish company, which will rent the premises at an estimated £12.50 per sq ft. Dunnes will have a 25,000 sq ft supermarket at street level and will also trade out of two upper floors with household goods and fashion. The arrival of Dunnes will provide stiff competition for Super Valu, which has been operating out of Eyre Square since it was opened in 1992. Dunnes' other major outlet in Galway is at Terryland, on the outskirts of the city near Pat Doherty's Galway Shopping Centre. Apart from Dunnes, all the remaining 40,000 sq ft of retail space will be occupied by high profile fashion retailers. Next's 8,500 sq ft shop will be its largest in the Republic, for which it will be paying a rent of over £250,000. The UK-based Arcadia Group, which recently took over Sears, is to operate three separate fashion outlets of 7,500 sq ft, the combined space of four units which are being rented at £450,000 per annum. The traders here will be Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins and Evans.
The Brown Thomas Group has also taken two stores for its newly relaunched A Wear fashions, which will be paying around £220,000 for 5,500 sq ft. A Wear will trade alongside UK fashion chain Oasis, which will be paying a rent of £125,000 for a shop of 1,500 sq ft. Edward Square will be seen as a prime retail complex in a city which is constantly packed with shoppers. Mr Douglas said that the new fashion stores in particular would mean that Galway would now have as good a choice as other cities.
The opening of Edward Square will coincide with the upgrading of William Street and Shop Street, which has recently been pedestrianised. Mr Barrett first began assembling the site in 1992 when he purchased Corbetts hardware store and car-park. He later acquired a number of properties in the Eyre Square centre to enable him to link in to that complex. Eyre Square was developed jointly by the McInerney group and ICC, which sold off 40 of the shop units to investors and the remaining 20 to owner-occupiers. Mr Barrett has also developed Kirwans Lane, one of the most successful retail and residential areas in the old part of the city. He also owns Busker Browns bar in that area. Three years ago, he also developed Jurys Inn, in Limerick, which the hotel chain is renting.
