Davy Real Estate Prepares Plans For €100M Mall Expansion And New Offices

Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre in Dublin city centre is set for a €100M expansion that will add two storeys, reduce the existing retail offer and introduce office space.

A fund operated by stockbroker and wealth manager Davy is preparing to submit a planning application for the redevelopment, the Sunday Times reported.

Davy Real Estate had been expected to redevelop the centre after paying a reported €175M for it on behalf of clients in 2019, and the owner is now thought to want to improve the connections between the centre and King Street, St Stephen’s Green West and Grafton Street.

While some of the existing retail units will be retained, as well as part of the building’s structure, the redevelopment will require internal reconfiguration and a partial redevelopment.

The extension will bring the size of the building to just under 1M SF, from about 770K SF currently.

Shops, restaurants and cafés will occupy the ground and first-floor levels, though retail space will be reduced to 205K SF, and more than 375K SF will be given over to offices.

Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre was developed in 1988 by British Land, which sold its residual 27% share in 2003.

Irish Life bought into the centre in 2001, and Davy investors took full control in late 2019 after paying a total of about €175M for three separate shareholdings held by Madison International Realty (35.4%), businessman Pierce Molony (27%) and Irish Life (37.6%).

With around 320K SF and more than 90 stores over three levels, tenants at Stephen’s Green include Dunnes Stores, Eason, TK Maxx and United Colors of Benetton. In October, Argos announced it would close its outlet by summer 2023.