Debenhams Department store to open in New Town Centre. The development of new town centre to create 850 jobs.

Debenhams has today signed contract lease documentation for a major new 46,000ft2 department store which will be delivered as part of the new Sligo Town Centre development, according to Treasury Holdings. This major commitment by Debenhams brings the vision of a high quality town centre scheme a step closer.

The new Debenhams department store will join Tesco, Penneys and Dunnes Stores in the Centre of the town.  The €80 million Sligo Town Centre development will rejuvenate the retail heart of Sligo and will offer over 260,000 sq ft of new retail space in 30 shops and 1,000 car parking spaces. The town centre scheme will be delivered in phases and Treasury Holdings is targeting a start later this year despite the difficult trading conditions.

350 people will be employed during the construction of the centre which will, on completion support a further 500 direct and indirect jobs of which the Debenhams store will employ up to 120 people.

Commenting on the decision of Debenhams Niall Kavanagh, Director of Real Estate and Development at Treasury Holdings said, "Debenhams decision to commit to opening a store is a vote of confidence in the Sligo Town Centre scheme and the brand itself will attract other big names to the development. The deal makes the scheme real in what is a very difficult environment for delivering new developments. The deal will necessitate an amendment to the granted planning permission in order to accommodate the larger format store, however, once built the store will attract customers from all over the north west of Ireland to Sligo. This is great news for Sligo and comes at the end of a lot of hard work from both sides over a 12 month period"

"The planning and pre-letting process has taken time and we appreciate that it can be frustrating for people, however, we have come a long way and Sligo Town Centre is one of the few retail schemes in the country that can be delivered at the present time. This is due mainly to the continued strong interest from retailers in a redevelopment scheme which will deliver anchor stores and adequate car parking for Sligo".

Mr Kavanagh concluded by saying, "the signing of Debenhams for the long awaited Sligo Town Centre scheme rounds off a very good few months for Treasury Holdings the highlights of which have been the sale of the recently completed Montevetro office block in Dublin to Google, the completion and opening of the Convention Centre Dublin, the letting to Donnybrook Fair at Stillorgan Shopping centre and also to Tullow Oil in Central Park".

Debenhams currently operates 11 stores in the Republic of Ireland and six stores in Northern Ireland.  The department store has a portfolio of over 100 successful designer and own brands.

Website

www.sligotowncentre.com

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