Retail MarketMarks & Spencer's aggressive expansion programme in Ireland is continuing to be rolled out in major cities as well as large towns.
Dublin is to get the largest M&S store in the country when the third phase of The Pavilions shopping centre is completed in 2012.
The multiple has just completed contracts to lease a gross area of 12,077sq m (130,000sq ft), giving it one of the two major anchor stores in the next stage. The other one is likely to be pitched at House of Fraser and Debenhams.
Joe O'Reilly's company, Chartered Land, is planning to lodge a planning application early next year to extend The Pavilions by a further 55,740sq m (600,000sq ft), bringing the overall size of the shopping complex to more than 92,903sq m (1 million sq ft).
The centre is attracting over 150,000 shoppers per week and, with the first of the tenants in the second phase (Zara, du Pareil au Meme and The Body Shop) already trading, the promoters are expecting visitor numbers to rise still further.
Other traders due to move in next March include Tommy Hilfiger, Esprit, Bertoni, Champion Sports and Yo Sushui. An 11-screen multiplex cinema opened last December and is apparently trading exceptionally well.
Dominic Deeny of Chartered Land said they believed The Pavilions was well on the way to realising its potential to become "the destination of choice among shoppers in north Dublin".
Two of the country's largest institutional investors, the Irish Pension Unit Trust and Irish Life, paid €240 million last September for a substantial stake in The Pavilions after it was bought by O'Reilly for €575 million. The two funds will also have options to buy into the third phase which is expected to include a new town centre.
The Pavilions is set to benefit greatly from the opening of the Metro North, a high capacity, high frequency transport system that will link Dublin city with Dublin Airport and Swords.
Bannon Commercial is the letting agent for The Pavilions.
