New €125m retail centre for Tuam

Plans for a new €125 million retail centre in Tuam have been submitted to Galway County Council.

If planning permission is approved, the centre will include a supermarket, department store, 55 shops and commercial units,112 residential units, a creche, a restaurant and office accommodation.

The development is proposed for the Palace Centre Site and will have the Bishop’s Palace as a centrepiece. The palace is a seven-bay, three-storey over-basement house dating from about 1790.

It became part of the Presentation convent school and was renovated for use as a restaurant and offices in the mid-1990s.

The scheme has be en dubbed Palace Centre @ Tuam and will have 29,540 square metres of floor space, including just under 950 basement and surface parking spaces.

It will be developed by Joe and Helen O’Toole, who own the SuperValu in the town.

‘‘This development will reinvigorate the centre of Tuam and contribute significantly to the ongoing development of Tuam as a key arterial town in Co Galway,” said Joe O’Toole.

John Mannion of letting agent DNG John Mannion said ‘‘that the proposal will create a vibrant retail identity for Tuam and will provide the local population with the type of shopping facilities they deserve’’.

The planning application seeks permission for a supermarket of just under 2,900 square metres, a department store of 1,300 metres and a 3,000 square metre household store.

The development includes some of the proposed inner relief road and will also feature an open landscaped plaza around the Bishop’s Palace.

It was designed by OKM Architects in Galway.

Tuam is 30 minute drive north of Galway and has a population of about 6,000 people.

Sunday Business Post