DUNNES STORES TO OPEN NEW DEPARTMENT STORE AT SKYCOURT SHANNON TOWN

Dunnes Stores, the country's leading retailer, has decided to locate in Shannon with a new department store offering food, clothing and homewares. It is expected to open at Christmas 2004. This is regarded as a major breakthrough by the owners of the Skycourt centre which is currently undergoing a 135 million Euro redevelopment.

Three anchor tenants, Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Lidl will now compete on a single campus in Shannon. "Many centres consider themselves fortunate to have one or two anchor tenants, but to have secured three prestige names places Shannon in a unique position," according to Barry Boland, Managing Director of Beaux Walk Properties who acquired Shannon Town Centre in 2001. It was subsequently rebranded as Skycourt.

Mr. Boland said the decision by Dunnes reinforces his faith in Shannon as a premium location for the Limerick/Shannon Gateway as identified by the National Spatial Strategy. "We believe that Dunnes will attract customers not only from our catchment area but also from Ennis and the north of Limerick city. Retailers who want to locate outside of Dublin, Cork and Galway must now put our Centre in Shannon at the top of their list," he said.

Skycourt has applied to Clare County Council for planning permission for modifications to accommodate Dunnes Stores. Already full planning has been given for Phase 1 of the development which includes a fashion mall, food court, new department store, new Town Square and a 390 space multi-storey car park.

The modifications include adjustments to the mall area, relocation of the foodcourt to the first floor and the redesign of the gym area. These changes are necessary to provide for the administrative offices associated with the new department store.

In a submission to Clare County Council, the developers have suggested that Dunnes will significantly strengthen the viability of Skycourt Shannon Town to serve the expanding population in the hinterland and will also facilitate earlier commencement of the later phases of development.

Mr. Boland said the decision by Dunnes to choose Shannon copperfastens Phase 1. "We now hope to turn our attention to Phase 2 which will provide for the creation of a civic street, an hotel and pub/restaurant and further retail units. We expect to lodge this planning application within the next three to four months," he said.

A decision by Clare Council of Phase 3 of the development is expected in the next three weeks. This is a joint venture with Shannon Development for a residential development on lands located within the Town Centre Area. The proposal provides for 232 residential units consisting of town houses and 2./3/4 bedroom apartments.

Construction work on Phase 1 of Skycourt Shannon Town began in December. The Contractors are John Sisk and Sons. This is a joint venture between Beaux Walk Properties and Cafferkey Investments. The letting agents are Lisney of Dublin.