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After laying dormant since its shock closure in 2015, Clerys landmark premises on O’Connell Street in Dublin looks set to welcome a new and rather different set of shoppers when it opens its doors for business next year.
While much of the redeveloped and rebranded Clerys Quarter will be given over to offices and other uses, The Irish Times has learned that Swedish fashion giant H&M has agreed a deal to occupy half of scheme’s 5,575 sq m (60,000 sq ft) of retail accommodation. The remaining 2,787 sq m (30,000 sq ft) of retail space meanwhile is understood to be the subject of negotiations between developer Paddy McKillen jnr’s Oakmount, and Flannels – a premium clothing retailer within UK billionaire Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.
Due for completion in the first quarter of 2022, the overall Clerys scheme which is being delivered by Oakmount and its partner, Europa Capital, will also comprise 8,600 sq m (92,600sq ft) of new grade-A office space across two buildings, a 1,670 sq m (18,000sq ft) panoramic rooftop restaurant, bar and events venue, five new food-and-beverage units, including the newly refurbished tea rooms, and a new 213-bedroom four-star hotel.
And those still sentimental for the Clerys of old will be heartened by the sight of its grand staircase, which is being restored to its original condition to provide the centrepiece of the scheme’s ground-floor shopping area. The store’s famous tea rooms will reopen for business in 2022.
The proposed works are described by the Clerys Quarter’s architects, Henry J Lyons, as a “key element” of plans for the building, the original design of which had been based on Selfridges’s flagship store, on Oxford Street in London.
While the letting agents for the Clerys Quarter have yet to make an official announcement in relation to the scheme’s office and retail occupiers, Paddy McKillen jnr and Matt Ryan’s Press Up Entertainment Group will operate the development’s boutique hotel, which will be known as The Clery, and its rooftop bar and restaurant.