Point Village Shopping Centre

geecee

Nice to see the Hales Freight shed on North wall quay demolished today, most of the sheds on Castleforbes road also seem to be in the middle of demolition...

Going to really improve the look of the place... I know that they will be building sites for a number of years... but I would rather marvel at the construction than look at those broken down old units!

subpar

geecee wrote: »

Nice to see the Hales Freight shed on North wall quay demolished today, most of the sheds on Castleforbes road also seem to be in the middle of demolition...

Going to really improve the look of the place... I know that they will be building sites for a number of years... but I would rather marvel at the construction than look at those broken down old units!

My feelings exactly, out with the old and in with the new and even if its 10 years late its nice to see a new city quarter emerging.

lawred2

geecee wrote: »

Nice to see the Hales Freight shed on North wall quay demolished today, most of the sheds on Castleforbes road also seem to be in the middle of demolition...

Going to really improve the look of the place... I know that they will be building sites number of years... but I would rather marvel at the construction than look at those broken down old units!

I'll have a wander down there next week when I'm back at work. Was wondering when that would come down.

geecee

I note that the Tile Style building also went at same time as hales
So we now have a clear quay from the maritime building at Castleforbes to the strangely preserved white building next to the Point Depot...

Great to see north wall so exposed after all these years!

subpar

Looking at the works last evening the Dublin Maritime Building was already partially demolished and the Roof of the Chetam Warehouse was also being torn down so the entire block looks set for new builds.

orangerhyme

Mr.S wrote: »

I like going there from D4 because it's always empty

Even new releases at the weekend can be pretty dead. I'm sure it still does well enough or else it wouldn't still be open.

It gets a lot of corporate gigs as well.

I'm the exact same. Live in d4, this is the nearest cinema.

Its a top class cinema really, only a few screens. Best seats and legroom. Always really quite.

orangerhyme

I'm still skeptical if the entire shopping center will be full of tenants.
A supermarket will come eventually definitely.
I'd imagine it will be like the CHQ, with some shops, restaurants etc..but he rest of the units will be offices

Fred_Johnson

orangerhyme wrote: »

I'm still skeptical if the entire shopping center will be full of tenants.
A supermarket will come eventually definitely.
I'd imagine it will be like the CHQ, with some shops, restaurants etc..but he rest of the units will be offices

Agreed, we could very well see offices on the top floors of the shopping centre. Shops only on one floor along with the supermarket. That would be grand, just want to see some sort of life at this stage!

Good to see the warehouses demolished finally, what an eyesore they were. With TedCastles site, Exo, and that site you're probably talking about 10,000 extra office workers when its fully built out. If that doesn't support a few shops in the Point i don't know what will!

orangerhyme

Yeah, I wonder whats the population needed to support a shopping center of that size.
It might also attract Ringsend, Grand canal dock, East wall, Eastpoint business park...but you could say the same about the CHQ etc..

There will also be 800 facebook workers in EAst wall, 1000 students next door.

The Green Room bar will be delighted.

Worst case scenario my little secret cinema wont be a secret anymore

orangerhyme

One huge selling point of the north docklands is how close it is to the airport, its literally 15 minutes.

subpar

The key aspect for Dunnes is to get the balance / size right between groceries and household goods /drapery. The customer profile is going to be office workers on their lunchtime / local apartment owners / residents of East Wall. Free Parking will be an issue, so most customers will enter on foot and purchases will be carried out of the shop thus limiting the spend. The new pedestrian bridge when its in place will also add to footfall in entire complex .

The surrounding districts of Fairview , Clontarf, Ringsend are currently well served by supermarkets so Dunnes or any of the other major players will be very careful in getting the size right for such an outlet in the Point Square.

orangerhyme

Ringsend only has Tesco Express I think. Grand Canal Dock only has the "Fresh" place which is a little pricey. There is parking underground also.

I dont think enough thought in general is being put into the north docks. Similarly, the south docks looks good, but its a little dead and sterile.

Is it just going to be blocks of offices and apartments, with ground floor units? It seems like an opportunity to do something better.

markpb

I could be wrong but I think that when Dunnes signed the lease, the plans for the area were more in favour of residential buildings. While there are a few apartments planned, most of the construction now is offices. Dunnes (and other shops who may have had an interest in the centre) will have almost no interest in moving into a business park. Only cafes that sell sandwiches can make any money in an area like that.

Possibly the plans for IGB site may change this but I'm not sure.

orangerhyme

Id imagine an M&S would do well there for picking up lunch and something for dinner.
Dunnes probably have it in the contract that no other supermarket can open up there, but theres plenty of other units free nearby.

Fred_Johnson

markpb wrote: »

I could be wrong but I think that when Dunnes signed the lease, the plans for the area were more in favour of residential buildings. While there are a few apartments planned, most of the construction now is offices. Dunnes (and other shops who may have had an interest in the centre) will have almost no interest in moving into a business park. Only cafes that sell sandwiches can make any money in an area like that.

Possibly the plans for IGB site may change this but I'm not sure.

Well you could say the same about Fresh in Grand Canal Dock, and that does great business. A Dunnes of the same size which focuses heavily on sandwiches (as Fresh does) is probably the way to go. But, all the existing new residential builds on the North Docks and many of the offices would need to be completed so i'd estimate Dunnes will open down there in 2019/2020.

orangerhyme

I guess Fresh has adapted to its market. Large salad section, lots of sandwiches , deli, not so much fruit and veg etc...

I do feel that there is something lacking in the Dublin Docklands...maybe it lacks an edgy warehouse club/bar scene that you find in other cities.

orangerhyme

Could they not just leave one block of it with empty warehouses and offer for low rent to artists, independent bars, cafes, clubs etc....
I know this will sound very hipstery, but Berlin has an area like this with a climbing wall, bars and clubs..

Otherwise the entire docks will be just offices, hotels, apartments and all the usual retail/coffee outlets etc so grey, bland and sterile.

Strong Life in Dublin

orangerhyme wrote: »

Could they not just leave one block of it with empty warehouses and offer for low rent to artists,

Eh no offence but this is a prime location, artists can get cheaper rent outside the cc

orangerhyme

yeah its just an idea.
I just think the area will be very bland and sterile, its just square blocks of offices

beauf

When the artisan xmas market was in the point SC, it breathed instant life to the immediate area because it was an easy hop on the Luas. Or the Cannonballers.

Thats what you mean.

orangerhyme

Yeah I guess the idea is to make it more of a destination. Maybe it needs a square/park for events also. The area in front of the Bord Gais theatre is a little small and the EXo building is going in by the Point, although there will still be a bit of space in front of the hotel.

The pedestrian bridge joining the north and south is good.

I like the Cannonballers, didnt know thats what they were called. It shows that with redevelopment of an area should also include the locals and try to keep them, otherwise you lose a lot of the color of the area.

orangerhyme

I do like my idea of a disused warehouse offered for cheap rent.

Maybe if some NAMAd warehouse could be opened up by the council for artists, crafts, indie shops, cafes, pubs, clubs etc....

Maybe somewhere like the East Wall, Ballybough, the Liberties

orangerhyme

For example here: https://www.google.ie/maps/place/53%C2%B021'01.9%22N+6%C2%B014'02.4%22W/@53.350526,-6.23618,439m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d53.350526!4d-6.233986

beauf

There already is a sculptor (or similar) in that complex. Its too off the beaten path though.

Losing the space where the EXo building is probably going to kill any more similar events though.

roycon111

The area is too wealthy and well designed to let low paying tenants in unfortunately - the paradox of fast regeneration in flat, well located and public transport serviced land with good amenities. There are more interesting protected buildings and structures than there are in Grand Canal Dock however so there will be better variety in businesses and just in the look of the place and even the slighter cheaper rents will give it more variety in the shops and businesses and there is always the newly designed port area nearby.

Grand Canal Dock was so big a success that it is almost a victim of its own success. A lot of the quirkier buildings and more interesting features made way for redevelopment in what was a poor brownfield area with contaminated land so that should be put in perspective and it's only just half finished yet we should also bare in mind. The last few initiatives like the restored Diving Bell, the redevelopment of the original mill buildings in Boland's Mill and the AirBNB offices are much more interesting and give a nod to the past and add some great variety.

The population of North and East wall is set to grow by the equivalent of the entire population of Longford within the next 6 years so it can definitely hold a full high quality shopping centre. I don't think people fully grasp just how large the area is going to be yet. The question is when they will all move in - Dunnes will probably hold off until at least one of the new residential developments is close to finishing - so probably 18 months.

Two of Ireland's best truly indigenous tech firms are now located there as well in Fenergo and Voxpro so that should also be mentioned in so far is a slightly cheaper option to GCD.

beauf

No doubt it will grow. But Fenergo and Voxpro aren't big enough to have an impact.

The Centra bank people probably just head to mayors square or to GCD.

subpar

The Central Bank has 1500 staff , Voxpro roughly 500 and Fenergo will have about 500 in 12 months time once they have completed their current recruitment exercise.

In addition add in the staff from NTMA building next to the Central Bank and the workers from the other new office buildings in the Dublin Landings and the new builds on the Hales Freight site and there are more than enough people to fill the new retail units which will surely open up in this new quarter of the City.

beauf

Regardless. There still is relatively little footfall in the area around the point. There's already a lot of people in apartments, and kitchens, offices etc in the area. Just no one walking around.

Take the spar is mainly only busy when the builders are in there or something on in the point. I wonder if it relocated to the point village would it draw more people out.

orangerhyme

roycon111 wrote: »

The area is too wealthy and well designed to let low paying tenants in unfortunately - the paradox of fast regeneration in flat, well located and public transport serviced land with good amenities. There are more interesting protected buildings and structures than there are in Grand Canal Dock however so there will be better variety in businesses and just in the look of the place and even the slighter cheaper rents will give it more variety in the shops and businesses and there is always the newly designed port area nearby.

Grand Canal Dock was so big a success that it is almost a victim of its own success. A lot of the quirkier buildings and more interesting features made way for redevelopment in what was a poor brownfield area with contaminated land so that should be put in perspective and it's only just half finished yet we should also bare in mind. The last few initiatives like the restored Diving Bell, the redevelopment of the original mill buildings in Boland's Mill and the AirBNB offices are much more interesting and give a nod to the past and add some great variety.

The population of North and East wall is set to grow by the equivalent of the entire population of Longford within the next 6 years so it can definitely hold a full high quality shopping centre. I don't think people fully grasp just how large the area is going to be yet. The question is when they will all move in - Dunnes will probably hold off until at least one of the new residential developments is close to finishing - so probably 18 months.

Two of Ireland's best truly indigenous tech firms are now located there as well in Fenergo and Voxpro so that should also be mentioned in so far is a slightly cheaper option to GCD.

It's hard to complain I guess when we've gone from bankruptcy to fastest growing economy in Europe in just a few years. Unemployment will be below 5% pretty soon and there will be 100+ cranes in the skyline. 70 at last count.
Dublin is going to change so much in next couple of years.
The entire Docklands SDZ will be filled in soon. Poolbeg SDZ will follow. Devaney Gardens, Dolphins Barn, O Teresa's gardens are soon to start.
I've read that Dublin inner city population (between the canals) has gone from 90000 in '91 to about 150000 today. I'd imagine it'll hit 200,000 by next census in 2021.

I'd like the existing inner city Dubs to be included in this new future.

At the risk of sounding like Una Mulally, I think we shouldn't completely give the city over to corporate interests. Try to find a balance between modern offices and apartments, and spaces for locals, artists, independent shops, cafes etc...
I'm not sure exactly how to do this.
Maybe have a look at other inner city areas such as East Wall, North Strand, Ballybough, Cabra, Rialto.
I think there might be parts of D8 which might be suitable for this but maybe it's already being gentrified.
Perhaps the area around Newmarket, lots of old warehouses around there.
I just think the ground units of the entire Docklands will be Starbucks, Spar, Milanos etc...And will be a little boring.

beauf

Not a scrap of green space near the point either.