THE future of Ballymun Shopping Centre has been a continuing saga since details of a new Town Centre were first mentioned in the ‘Masterplan for a new Ballymun’ in 1998.
The creation of a vibrant town centre that would be on the Metro North line and serve a large Northside population was one of the key aims of the Ballymun Regeneration Project.
In 2003 Treasury Holdings was granted permission to build a 170,000 sq mt mixed use town centre scheme that would have revamped the existing shopping centre and built new units on an additional eight acres.
However, a number of objections to the project were submitted, including one from Treasury against conditions laid down by the council.
The project was to have been built over a 10 year period but three years later work still hadn’t begun, despite the 25 million deal between Treasury and the council operating through Ballymun Regeneration Ltd (BRL).
Initial planning objections were eventually resolved but by 2006 a new row over the value of the land emerged with BRL claiming the price had tripled to 75 million and the original contract documentation hadn’t been completed.
The dispute was eventually settled and plans for the new Spring Cross Shopping Centre were announced in 2009 by property investment firm Real Estate Opportunities (REO), whose biggest shareholder was Treasury Holdings.
At the time the proposed new e800 million centre was the largest mixed use town centre that permission had ever been granted for in Ireland. The plan included 360 apartments, 60,000 sq mt of retail units, 35,000 sq mt of offices and 11,000 sq mt for other uses including substantial leisure and civic amenities with cinemas, bowling alleys, a public library and restaurants.
However, a year later it was reported that REO owed 2 billion in loans to banks and had asked NAMA to provide it with working capital to fund its operations.
In 2012 REO eventually ceased trading, without even enough money to appoint a liquidator.
NAMA took over the loans relating to Ballymun Shopping Centre and in 2013 BRL sought clarification from NAMA on its intentions, warning that it may make its own plans to build retail units elsewhere.
Since then there has been little movement on the future of the shopping centre. Some land north of the shopping centre and south of IKEA was put up for sale earlier this year and current zoning allows it to be used for retail and commercial developments.
However, it could take years for a plan to materialise and there’s no guarantee that it would be used as part of a town centre.
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