Dunnes Stores lodge planning application for Kilkenny shopping centre unit
The retail giant has applied for planning permission at the long-vacant Ferrybank Shopping Centre
A planning application from Dunnes Stores was received by Kilkenny County Council on July 1 for the development of a retail store and leisure facilities at Ferrybank Shopping Centre.
The site has been without a commercial tenant since its construction in 2008, with the application being a significant step towards ending the saga of getting the facility in use.
The development outlined consists of a change of use and amalgamation of the centre’s unused car showroom with the existing retail anchor unit space at ground floor level to form a single unit above the basement car park.
The reconfigured site will have 3,000 square metres of convenience floorspace for everyday goods and 2,042 sqm of comparison floorspace for things like clothes and electronics.
The basement storage and goods inward areas of the unit will stay unchanged and have an area of around 7,558 sqm while the store will have access from the ground floor mall level of the shopping centre.
The first floor of the retail unit, previously approved for the sale of comparison goods, will be repurposed into a separate leisure unit measuring 3,140 sqm and access to this will be from the first floor mall level.
Dunnes purchased the unit in 2023 and will now try to add to the shopping centre which currently only houses the Ferrybank Library and an area office for Kilkenny County Council.