Sunday 14 September 2008

Moriarty planning €30m development in Skerries

Businessman and former Fianna Fáil election candidate Luke Moriarty plans to build a €30 million ‘‘neighbourhood centre’’ in Skerries in north Co Dublin.

The development in the centre of the town will consist of a SuperValu supermarket, 15 other shops, 67 apartments and an underground car park with 400 spaces. Moriarty, whose interests include supermarkets and hotels, applied for planning permission for the project last week.

He said he hoped to secure planning permission within the next six to nine months, while the building process would take a further 18 months. ‘‘The total investment will be between €25 million and €30 million,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty already operates a supermarket on part of the site for the proposed development and has acquired a number of adjoining properties. ‘‘We have been putting the site together for four to five years,” he said.

The centre will be anchored by a 13,000 square foot SuperValu outlet, and will also house two other large retailers and 13 smaller shop units.

Moriarty, who failed to win a seat in last year’s general election, also owns SuperValu supermarkets in Palmerstown, west Dublin, and in Balbriggan in north Dublin. He has just completed a €7.5 million refurbishment of the Palmerstown store and a €7 million extension of the Balbriggan development, which also includes more than 70 apartments.

The businessman also has two hotels – the Bracken Court in Balbriggan and the Courtyard in Leixlip, which stands on the site of a brewery once owned and run by Arthur Guinness. The Bracken Court reopened last week after a €7 million refit following a fire.

‘‘We were shut for 20 weeks, but we worked day and night to get it back open,” said Moriarty. He said he was interesting in acquiring other supermarkets or hotels if they came on the market. ‘‘We are open for business and keen to expand,” he said.

Sunday Business Post

www.buckplanning.ie

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