Sunday Business Post 28th September 2005
Finishing touches to Scotch Hall
The finishing touches are being put to Scotch Hall, Galway developer Gerry Barrett's €150 million retail and leisure development on the south bank of the river Boyne in Drogheda, Co Louth. The scheme, which is expected to draw customers from as far afield as Navan, Newry, Dundalk and Dublin, has been six years in the pipeline and has been under construction for just over two years.
The first part of Scotch Hall to open to the public will be the 104-bedroom D Hotel, which will commence trading in early October. This is the first property in Barrett's Mongram hotel chain - a second, The G, will open in Galway in November.
Around a month later, on November 10, the 25,000 square metre Scotch Hall shopping centre will open to the public. The centre is being anchored by Dunnes, which will occupy an 8,065 square metre split-level unit with grocery on the ground floor and textiles on the first floor.
The centre, where Zone A rents range from €175 to €195 per square metre, will be almost fully let when it opens.
Among the tenants will be the British fashion retailer Next, which will operate a 1,865 square metre store with two entrances and shopping over three levels. Other large units will be occupied by New Look (991 square metres), Topshop (826 square metres), HMV (679 square metres) and Waterstones (586 square metres).
Barrett's agents Douglas Newman Good have managed to secure a range of other high-profile fashion names for the centre, including Oasis, Dorothy Perkins, River Island, Wallis, A-Wear, Burton Menswear, Pull & Bear and Sasha. This represents a significant improvement on the fashion offering in Drogheda - up until now, the town had attracted few well-known high street chains, with the result that many locals had been travelling to Blanchardstown and Dublin city centre to shop.
A large restaurant will be housed in one of the listed industrial buildings fronting the river, while smaller food units will be occupied by Cafe Kylemore, QuizNos, La Croissanterie, BB's Muffins and Insomnia.
Barrett believes the decision by so many well-known retailers to open in Scotch Hall is a huge vote of confidence in the Co Louth town.
“The people of Drogheda have been travelling away from the town to do their shopping for too long,” he said.
The provision of around 700 car spaces is likely to be crucial to the success of the centre, as Drogheda is currently particularly poorly served when it comes to parking. The availability of parking was one of the key obstacles to shopping in the town highlighted in a survey of local shopping trends carried out by Behaviour & Attitudes on behalf of the Scotch Hall developers.
While Barrett initially estimated that the overall Scotch Hall development would employ between 700 and 800 staff, that number will have grown to around 1,200 by the time the second phase of the scheme is completed.
“The development will provide over 1,000 service jobs - New Look and Next alone will be employing between 50 and 60 people each,” he said.
Barrett's firm Edward Holdings submitted a planning application for phase two of Scotch Hall last February. To be known as South Bank, this will comprise over 12,500 square metres of additional retail space, a nine-screen cinema, conference facilities and extra bedrooms for The D and 9,290 square metres of offices. There will also be 160 apartments housed in a 27 storey tower overlooking the Boyne.
The local authority has requested additional information on the scheme from Barrett, and this is to be submitted shortly.
Three retailers seeking large floor plates have already expressed an interest in opening in South Bank.
The current phase of Scotch Hall includes 2,787 square metres of offices, which are being marketed by Douglas Newman Good at a quoting rent of €215 to €269 per square metre. There are also 80 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, which are due to go onto the market through auctioneer Felicity Fox in October.
Prices have yet to be finalised but, according to Fox, are likely to start at €175,000 for one-beds, €230,000 for two-beds and €360,000 for three-beds.
The entire scheme, including The D, has been designed by architects Douglas Wallace. The hotel is strikingly contemporary, with glass, walnut and limestone featuring prominently.
On the ground floor, The D Restaurant will have views over the river, while the adjoining lounge will feature flat screen televisions and a seahorse tank.
An events suite known as the Gallery Room will accommodate 80 to 100 guests, although the South Bank extension will boost The D's conference capacity to between 500 and 600 and allow it to compete with other provincial towns for a slice of the lucrative convention market.
According to Mary McKeon, chief operating officer with Mongram Hotels, The D's bread and butter business will come from midweek corporate customers.
“However, we'll also be heavily targeting the leisure sector at weekends, and will be sourcing new business in the coach tour market - we've already taken bookings from one operator who brings visitors in from North America,” she said.
McKeon will be offering an introductory rate of €110 per room per night including breakfast for standard rooms, which feature flat screen TVs, mini-bars and laptop safes. There are also two luxurious penthouses, both with large terraces offering views over the town, priced at around €1,000 per night.
Barrett also developed the Edward Square shopping centre in Galway, which opened in 2000.He owns the controlling interest in the adjoining Eyre Square shopping centre, and built the Wellpark development off the Dublin Road in the city.
Barrett recently hit the headlines on both sides of the Irish sea when it was revealed that his company Edward Holdings had acquired the historic Bow Street police station and magistrates court in London. Dr Crippen, Oscar Wilde, William Joyce and Reggie Kray all spent time in the building's cells.
No concrete decision has been made on how the property will be developed, according to Barrett, who won't take possession of Bow Street for over a year. However it seems likely that a hotel will be built on the site.
“It would lend itself very well to a hotel, but we're mulling over a range of ideas,” said Barrett.
“We would intend to keep the jail as a museum. We're keen for there to be some kind of public access.
“One idea that has been mooted is using some of the cells as hotel bedrooms, so people could say they'd slept in the same room as Dr Crippen.”
By Gillian Nelis