Plans have been submitted to Galway City Council for a €50 million retail development, which includes a shopping centre, apartments, offices and shop units, to service the city's growing eastern suburbs.
A Galway auctioneer, Mr Liam Mulryan, has applied for permission to construct a mixed development on the 2.45 hectare site at Briarhill, which would consist of a total of 14,887 square metres on three floors.
The developer is in talks with three supermarket chains about the anchor tenancy for a premises of over 3,500 square metres of sales space, to cater for the expanding Ardaun area, between Galway and Oranmore, whose population is expected to reach 20,000 in the next few years.
The plans, if approved, will replace a hotel, apartment, multiplex cinema and "park and ride" development which was granted permission three years ago. There are no plans for a hotel or cinema in the revised application.
The revised plans include 22 shop units, 14 offices, 22 apartments, a student seminar room and 554 parking spaces. Mr Mulryan said three major supermarket groups had expressed an interest in taking over the main retail unit, but no deal had been finalised.
He said there were numerous people interested in taking the shop units, which would include a chemist, video store, newsagent and bookmakers.