Hines, as asset and development manager, has welcomed South Dublin County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the expansion of one of Ireland’s best known shopping and leisure destinations at Liffey Valley in West Dublin on behalf of its co-owners. Liffey Valley is owned by clients of HSBC Private Bank (to whom HSBC Alternative Investments Limited acts as investment adviser), Grosvenor Britain & Ireland and Hines Ireland, who also act as Asset and Development Managers.
Planning permission has been granted for an additional 22,000-square-meter net retail space together with a mix of other uses. Plans include a transformation of the Centre’s civic spaces with the addition of a major new public space equivalent to a typical European-scale Urban Plaza. Approval has also been given for the building of an Olympic-standard ice arena with capacity for 2,500 spectators, capable of hosting international ice skating competitions, ice hockey matches and ice entertainment performances. The Council has chosen to remove a proposed multistory car park as part of the permission to Grant.
Responding to today’s announcement, Brian Moran, senior managing director of Hines Ireland said, “We are absolutely delighted that planning permission has been granted for the expansion of retail space; a major new civic plaza and a 2,500-seat Olympic-sized indoor ice arena. We now have a visionary plan approved which will redefine Liffey Valley as both a shopping and retail experience, and also as a leisure and recreation destination. Today's decision is a welcome endorsement of our aim to ensure strategic forward planning and the sustainable development of Liffey Valley into the future. For the past two years we have been developing a new vision of Liffey Valley via a series of works in the Centre and the new western end extension. This new additional public space will provide an additional mixed -leisure entertainment, commercial and retail extension creating an active public environment, which fully resonates with the local community.”
He added, “It is clear that the local authority has supported the overall scheme by approving the retail, leisure and public realm elements, but we note at this stage it still has reservations about aspects of the parking adjacent to the ice arena. We will now review the basis for the omission and work towards an improved solution as soon as we can. Already a leading employer and contributor to the local community, this new project will strengthen Liffey Valley’s role in the local economic development of West Dublin over the next decade.”
Earlier this year, detailed studies commissioned by Hines predicted that spending and population growth in Liffey Valley’s catchment will outstrip growth in supply over the next five years, demonstrating the need for new retail space in West Dublin in the coming years.
As part of this application, Hines Ireland initiated an architectural competition to come up with a world class design for the proposed new retail and leisure spaces at Liffey Valley. The U.S. architects RTKL were selected having devised a visionary design which envisages transformative new civic spaces being added to the existing building at Liffey Valley.
Liffey Valley is one of Ireland’s most successful and vibrant shopping and leisure destinations with over 100 shops, restaurants and multiplex cinema. The new Western End development due for completion at the end of 2016 will have over 7,000 square meters of retail space, 3, 774 square meters of restaurant space and the 14-screen fully refurbished VUE cinema. Once the West End Development is completed, Liffey Valley will comprise over 60,000 square meters of retail and leisure space.
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 182 cities in 20 countries. Hines has $89.1 billion of assets under management, including $42.5 billion for which Hines provides fiduciary investment management services, and $46.6 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 109 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,126 properties, totaling over 351 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 457 properties, representing over 193 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information.
HSBC Alternative Investments Limited (HAIL) provides a broad range of hedge fund, private equity and real estate investment services to clients across the globe.
It also acts as Investment Advisor to a number of real estate products managed by HSBC Management (Guernsey) Limited. Operating since 1989, HSBC’s alternative investment business today manages and advises on more than USD 30bn of client assets. HAIL is a limited company registered in England and Wales and authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Grosvenor Britain & Ireland creates and manages high- quality neighbourhoods across the UK and Ireland. The company’s diverse property development, management and investment portfolio includes Grosvenor’s London estate, comprising 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia, in which it has a £1bn planned investment programme. Other developments include elsewhere in London and Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Southampton. As at 31 December 2015, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland had £5.7bn of assets under management. www.grosvenor.com