Blanchardstown Centre
LocationBlanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland
Coordinates53°23′35″N 6°23′20″W / 53.393°N 6.389°W / 53.393; -6.389
Opening date16 October 1996 (1996-10-16)
OwnerGoldman Sachs
No. of stores and services180
No. of anchor tenants4[1]
Total retail floor area(Core centre) 112,000 m2 (1,200,000 sq ft), (Total incl. retail parks)159,000 m2 (1,700,000 sq ft)[2][3]
No. of floors2
Parking7,000
Websiteblanchardstowncentre.ie
Blanchardstown Centre entrance

The Blanchardstown Centre is Ireland's largest shopping complex, located in Blanchardstown and Coolmine, western suburbs of Dublin, Ireland. It opened in October 1996 and was extended in 2004 to create extra retail space. It lies in the administrative area of Fingal County Council.

The Blanchardstown Centre has an annual footfall of 16.5 million,[4] and is served by over 600 bus movements per day,[5] and is close to Dublin's M50 radial motorway, and adjacent to the M3 motorway.

In June 2016 the centre was sold to the Blackstone Group by Green Property for an estimated €950m, making it the most expensive property ever sold in Ireland;[6][7] Blackstone in turn sold it to Goldman Sachs, who put it back on the market mid-2023.[8]

Stores

The centre contains over 180 stores, including banking outlets and dining facilities, three retail parks and 7,000 free car parking spaces.[2][3] The anchor stores in the shopping centre itself include Dunnes, Penney's, and Marks and Spencer.[1] A former anchor, Debenhams Ireland, was closed in April 2020,[9] however Flannels has since replaced Debenhams, which opened in late 2022.[10] Other tenants include H&M, Superdry Store, Vero Moda, Jack & Jones, River Island, JD, 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 retail parks, two of which are part of the centre, whilst the other, WestEnd Retail 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 are also located in the retail parks around the centre.

The complex includes a 9-screen cinema operated by Odeon Cinemas and a Leisureplex entertainment centre.

Non-retail developments

Other amenities located in or adjacent to the centre include the Draíocht arts centre, as well as Ireland's "largest purpose-built public library".[11]

At the time of building, the greater Blanchardstown area had a population of over 120,000.[12] In the period 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".[12] The Crowne Plaza hotel chain also built a four-star 200-bedroom hotel within the development in 2008.[12]

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.[13] These plans included a three-storey complex with a new anchor store, 17 new shops and a food court located on the second floor, as well as a two-storey underground carpark. These plans proposed eight new restaurants for the exterior.[14] 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.[6][7] Blackstone sold it on to Goldman Sachs at a lower price, and mid-2023, Goldman put it on the market again.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Percival, Geoff (22 January 2016). "Dublin's Blanchardstown Centre set to be sold for €1bn". Irish Examiner.
  2. 1 2 "Ireland's largest shopping centre to be put up for sale with €725m price tag". The Irish Times. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023. 112,000sq m (1.2 million sq ft) of retail space distributed across 180 shops. The scheme ... also comprises three external retail parks, external retail units, ... and 7,000 free car-parking spaces.
  3. 1 2 "Blanchardstown Town Centre". Falcon AM Real Estate. Retrieved 10 June 2023. 159,000 M² OF RETAIL ACCOMODATION
  4. ↑ Blanchardstown Centre (PDF). Dublin, Ireland: Bannon. 2022.
  5. ↑ "Centre History". Blanchards Town Centre. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 Flanagan, Paul (18 June 2016). "Blackstone in €950m deal to buy Blanchardstown Centre". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  7. 1 2 McHugh, Robert (17 June 2016). "Blanchardstown Centre bought by Blackstone". Business World. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Goldman Sachs to sell Blanchardstown shopping centre". The Irish Independent. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  9. ↑ "Coronavirus Ireland: Debenhams to close all Irish stores as chain goes into liquidation". dublinlive.ie. Dublin Live. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  10. ↑ Quinlan, Ronald. "High-end UK retailer Flannels to open at Blanchardstown Centre". The Irish Times. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  11. ↑ "About Us - The Centre". Blanchardstowncentre.ie. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 "Blanchardstown Centre - Background". Blanchardstowncentre.ie. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "Yellow Mall Blanchardstown Centre". A&D Wejchert & Partners Architects. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009.
  14. ↑ "Massive extension for Town Centre". Community Voice. Archived from the original on 9 January 2009.
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