Supermarket giant Tesco is to lodge a planning application today for a £15 million shopping centre on the Malahide Road in north Dublin. The company recently paid around £12 million for the 12-acre site which is strategically located within a mile of the end of the M50 at Airfield.
Several supermarket chains, possibly including Safeway, competed for the site, which was sold by the businessman, Mr Albert Gubay. He has retained adjoining land for a leisure and fitness centre which will use of 147 of the 574 car parking spaces.
The 86,000 sq ft stand-alone store will be the first to be developed by Tesco since it took over the Quinnsworth, Crazy Prices and Stewart operations in the Republic and the North.
The Airfield store will be broadly in line with a successful formula developed by the company in the UK. Apart from a food store the complex will have other services, including a video and music store, cafe, dry cleaning, health and beauty section, adult and children's clothing and a flower shop. About 500 people will be employed in the centre and a petrol station is planned in the car park.
The high value of the Airfield site reflects its existing planning permission for a larger store of 11,000 square feet, which was obtained by businessman Mr Gerry Gannon.
With few remaining opportunities available for major supermarkets in the greater Dublin area, Tesco is expected to pitch for a large store earmarked for the Liffey Valley shopping centre, under construction along another section of the M50 at Quarryvale in west Dublin.
The size of this development has already been capped by the developers but with all the major stores already let, the centre does not have a conventional supermarket. It is expected that planning permission will be sought later for a stand-alone supermarket of 85,000 sq ft near the centre.
