Dunnes has big plans for old store site

SUPERMARKET giant Dunnes Stores has indicated it will seek permission to demolish its long-established store on Curraheen Road in Bishopstown, Cork, and replace it with a much higher density scheme with overhead apartments, worth up to €100 million.

It wants to replace the 32-year-old single-storey store with a mixed-use development, to include 72 apartments, medical centre and surgeries and retail units plus a crèche.

The plans for the western suburban site, of between two and three acres, include provision for basement car parking.

However, a spokesperson for the company last night declined to comment on the planned development, for which an application has yet to be lodged with the city council.

Details of the scale or height of the scheme have not yet been divulged. Similarly unclear is the overall scale of development, or the amount of retail and medical facilities proposed. The plan for basement parking suggests a high-density scheme of development.

Architects’ firm Bertie Pope and Associates is reported to be involved in the development plans.

Due to the mixed-use nature of the plans, it is speculated the company may be involved in a joint development with another party.

Next door to Dunnes at Curraheen Road is a four-storey development called Cornfields, with 30 apartments and ground-floor retail space, developed by the Sheehan family who owned the local Viscount Bar.

The Viscount’s current owners, the Rebel Bar group, are understood to have their own development plans for the bar, while across the road a number of semis used as doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries have been rezoned for development.

While councillors recently voted to block residential development over three storeys in western suburbs, sources say this may not apply to commercial plans.