Blanchardstown Centre

Blanchardstown Centre
Location Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland
Coordinates 53°23′35″N 6°23′20″W / 53.393°N 6.389°W / 53.393; -6.389Coordinates: 53°23′35″N 6°23′20″W / 53.393°N 6.389°W / 53.393; -6.389
Opening date October 16, 1996 (1996-10-16)
Owner Blackstone
No. of stores and services 180
No. of anchor tenants 4[1]
Total retail floor area 120,774 square metres (1,300,000 sq ft)
No. of floors 2
Parking 7,000
Website blanchardstowncentre.ie
Blanchardstown Centre entrance

The Blanchardstown Centre is one of Ireland's largest shopping centres, and located in Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland. It opened in October 1996 and was extended in 2004 to create extra retail space. It lies in the administration of Fingal.

The Blanchardstown Centre is served by over 600 bus movements per day, and close to the M50 and M3 motorways.

In June 2016 the centre was sold to the Blackstone Group by Green Property for an estimated €950m.[2][3]

Stores

The centre contains over 180 stores, 3 retail parks and 7,000 free car parking spaces. The four main anchor tenants in the shopping centre itself are Dunnes, Penney's, Marks and Spencer, and Debenhams.[1] Other tenants include H&M, Superdry Store, Vero Moda, Jack & Jones, River Island, JD, Topshop/Topman, BT2 and Zara. The Blanchardstown Centre is also home to Ireland's largest TK Maxx store, Lifestyle Sports and 53 Degrees North, all of which are located in the "fashion park". Surrounding the centre are three retails parks, two of which are part of the centre, whilst the other, WestEnd Shopping Park is operated separately and features stores such as New Look, Argos, Lidl, Dealz, Nike Outlet, Heatons and Next. Harvey Norman, Smyths Toys, Currys PC World, Waltons Music, Elvery's Sports and DFS Sofas are also located in the retail parks around the centre.

There are other amenities located in the Blanchardstown Centre including a 9-screen cinema operated by Odeon Cinemas, a Leisureplex entertainment centre, the Draiocht arts centre as well as Ireland's "largest purpose built public library".[4]

Non-retail developments

At the time of the building, Blanchardstown had a population of 120,000,[5] and this figure was growing due to its location beside the M50 and adjacent to the M3. In the decades that followed the 1996 opening of the retail spaces, additional commercial and office spaces were leased to eBay, Fingal County Council and Liberty Insurance - who relocated their headquarters to the site, bringing "over 1,300 staff to the area daily".[5] The Crowne Plaza hotel chain also built a four-star 200-bedroom hotel within the development in 2008.[5]

Plans

From early 2009, plans had been published which set to extend the centre by 38,500 sq ft (3,580 m2) with a new "Yellow Mall" extension.[6] These plans included a three story complex with a new anchor store, 17 new shops and a food court located on the second floor, as well as a two-story underground carpark. These plans proposed eight new restaurants for the exterior.[7] As of January 2016, when the centre was put up for sale, these plans had not been executed.[1] In June 2016 the centre was sold (together with this planning approval) to the Blackstone Group by Green Property for an estimated €950m.[2][3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 J Wallace (21 January 2016). "Green Property puts Dublin's Blanchardstown Centre up for sale for in excess of €1bn". CoStar Group - European real estate finance news. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 P Flanagan (18 June 2016). "Blackstone in €950m deal to buy Blanchardstown Centre". Independent News & Media. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 R McHugh (17 June 2016). "Blanchardstown Centre bought by Blackstone". BusinessWorld.ie. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "About Us - The Centre". Blanchardstowncentre.ie. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Blanchardstown Centre - Background". Blanchardstowncentre.ie. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  6. ↑ "Yellow Mall Blanchardstown Centre". A&D Wejchert & Partners Architects. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009.
  7. ↑ "Massive extension for Town Centre". Community Voice. Archived from the original on 9 January 2009.
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