Two leading retailers have committed to opening their Irish flagship stores at Clerys Quarter in Dublin city centre later this year.
Frasers Group said it will open its first FLANNELS flagship store outside of the UK at Clerys Quarter. The new 30,000 square feet store, which will offer luxury fashion, has a 15-year lease.
Swedish clothing retailer H&M also said it has chosen Clerys for what will be its largest city centre store, with retail space of about 30,000 square feet.
Due to open in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Clerys Quarter development is set to reignite the vibrancy of O'Connell Street with new restaurants and pubs as well as retail units and offices.
The completed redevelopment of Clerys Quarter will include about 90,000 sq ft Grade A office space, a new 213-bed four-star hotel and a rooftop restaurant, which will house the latest venue from PressUp Group.
Key to the redevelopment are the Clerys building's historic features, including the colonnaded façade, internal staircases, columns and ceilings and the famous refurbished Clerys clock.
Clerys Quarter is expected to create around 400 new jobs in addition to the 750 construction jobs it is supporting during the construction works.
The O'Connell Street site was bought by Europa Capital and its local partners, Core Capital and Oakmount, in 2018 from the Natrium consortium.
Natrium, led by businesswoman Deirdre Foley, hit the headlines in mid-2015 when it bought Clerys for €29m under controversial circumstances that led to the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Jason Oram, Partner and Fund Manager at Europa Capital - which is behind the development - said the refurbishment of the former Clerys department store will transform this area of the city into one of Dublin's premier destinations.
Mr Oram said it is a fantastic case study for the repurposing of pure retail assets for the future.
"The leasing of two anchor stores to high profile brands demonstrates the strength of the location in the heart of Dublin, as well as the appeal of Clerys Quarter as a mixed-use scheme," he said.
"Encouragingly, we are seeing signs of recovery in the leasing market since the start of the pandemic, and we are confident that Clerys Quarter's location and fantastic transport links will lead to strong demand from further businesses alike," he added.
Derek McGrath, Managing Director at Core Capital, said that positioning Clerys Quarter as a destination of choice in Dublin city centre was a key focus in the iconic re-development.
"We believe the addition of Flannels and H&M as anchor tenants deliver on that focus. As destination retailers they will attract significant footfall to both the development and wider area," Mr McGrath said.
"Tenants of this calibre combined with our exciting food and beverage offering will provide consumers with a unique shopping experience in the city centre. We will be launching our food and beverage immediately and look forward to opening our doors to the public later this year," he added.
Europa Capital, Core Capital and Oakmont were advised by Kevin Sweeney of Savills.
