Roches Stores building owner files further information on planned redevelopment

Former Debenhams site has been vacant since the pandemic

The former Debenhams and Roches Stores site on Cork's St Patrick Street.

The owners of Cork's former Roches Stores and Debenhams premises on St Patrick's Street have filed extensive further information on their planning application to renovate and overhaul the historic premises.

The Mayo family-owned business, which operates the Elverys Intersport retail chain, purchased the property for €12m in 2023. It had originally been listed at €20m after Debenhams, who leased the building, ceased operations in Ireland in 2020.

The building is one of the most prominent on Cork's main thoroughfare and has remained vacant since the covid pandemic.

A computer-generated image of the redeveloped Roches Stores building.

In July, the company lodged plans to upgrade and renovate the key site, seeking initial permission to subdivide the section facing St Patrick's Street and Maylor Street into four retail units while preserving the protected structure's façade and copper dome. 

In September, City Hall planners sought extensive further information on the plans, seeking clarification on a number of issues, including signage, rooftop solar panels, the protection of the historic building and the reinstatement of a pedestrian link to the Merchant's Quay Shopping Centre.

Conservation requirements dominated the requests, and planners queried if the shopfront designs would align with the early 20th-century style. Conservation specialists John Cronin & Associates provided a detailed response regarding the future signs and the nature of future gates and shutters that would be used.

In relation to access to the adjacent shopping centre, the applicants said this access may be reinstated under the plans for the next phase of development, Block B, and said access could be reestablished through that development. 

The new owners have flagged that a separate application for mixed-use development in the rear sections will be made. This may include residential, hotel, and additional retail components. 

Following the submission of further information, the City Council now has four weeks to grant or refuse the planning application, which means a decision is likely before the end of the year.

Alongside Intersports Elverys, high-street fashion chains like Zara have been mentioned as possible future tenants of the site.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner earlier this year, John Staunton, director of InterSport Elverys, said: "It’s too important a building for Cork city centre to be left idle any longer."