Cinemas to re-open at The Square

ian_m

A NEWLY formed company is to redevelop and operate the existing cinema complex at The Square shopping centre in Tallaght, south Dublin.

The Ward family, part of the Ward Anderson Group, is to join forces with solicitor Noel Smyth’s Alburn company to take over the running of the 55,000 sq ft centre, which has been closed since last February.

The new company is to spend €10 million fitting out at least 12 new digital and 3D cinemas and upgrading the overall facility in the expectation that it will attract to up to one million patrons a year.

The cinemas will open in the run-up to Christmas following a decision by Anglo Irish Bank to fund the modifications.

Alburn will have a 50 per cent stake in the cinema-operating company, which will pay a basic rent and a percentage of the turnover.

The agreement comes almost two months after rival developer Bernard McNamara announced he was also seeking Nama approval to proceed with a €60 million leisure and retail complex on the former Woodies site at the front of The Square shopping centre.

The €60 million plan provides for 13 new cinemas with a total of 3,000 seats to be rented by UCI/ Leisureplex at €2 million a year. The five-storey over-basement scheme will have retail use on the ground and first floors and a basement car park with 270 spaces.

Alburn is owner of the shopping centre, which is to be substantially enlarged in the coming years.
The Irish Times - Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Cookie_Monster

was that not always the plan anyway?

why are the state (via Anglo) funding it?

paddydriver

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

was that not always the plan anyway?

why are the state (via Anglo) funding it?

Because for us, the taxpayer, to have any chance of getting some money back on all we have sunk into anglo they are gonna have to lend a bit out... or maybe it's just that the brother of some senior guy in anglo needs the money to fund all his other dodgy stuff:D

eastinflatable

was that not always the plan anyway?
I don't know !

delta_bravo

I thought a new cinema was going to be built where Woodies was? Belgard Square

icdg

delta_bravo wrote: »

I thought a new cinema was going to be built where Woodies was? Belgard Square

This is still the plan. The cinema that is planned to open in this location would be a UCI.

What the owners of The Square are now planning apparently is for the original UCI cinema in Tallaght to re-open as a Ward Anderson (probably under the Omniplex brand).

Whether Tallaght can in the long run sustain two large multiplex cinemas within walking distance of each other is something the market will decide, I guess.

ian_m

icdg wrote: »

Whether Tallaght can in the long run sustain two large multiplex cinemas within walking distance of each other is something the market will decide, I guess.

I don't think it can be sustained actually.

My guess is that the shopping centre would be happy to see anyone move in there now rather than have it empty. It looks terrible. It should not have been allowed to permanently close if you ask me.

Tallaght needs at least one cinema anyway wherever it may be, not none.

super_furry

But wasn't it originally closed because the Square refused to renew UCI's lease? Either way, this is a good news. The cinema was really starting to show it's age and looked very tatty, a full refit is needed.