The group has formed a joint venture with Westmeath Co Council and is seeking to develop a 200,000 sq ft retail complex, luxury apartments, offices for the local authority and a possible headquarters for the Office of Public Works (OPW), which is being decentralised from Dublin.
The complex, which will be called Central, will be mostly outdoor with access to the shops by way of a newly created street. This is a new concept for an Irish shopping centre and is in keeping with a desire by the council to retain the character of the town and to create a link with existing shops.
Bennett is currently negotiating with a range of retailers and expects the centre to interest established operators, including Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Next and HMV.
Bennett hopes to open the new centre in April 2008 and expects it to have about 1,500 employees.
The centre is awaiting planning permission from An Bord Pleanala. The council’s involvement means it was referred to the planning appeals board for adjudication. A small number of objections have been lodged and a decision is expected within two months.
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Mullingar is one of the few remaining large Irish towns without a large shopping centre. Its population is forecast to rise by 23% to 37,000 by 2010 and a number of large residential developments are planned for the area.
Bennett believes Central will benefit from this boom. “Mullingar is undershopped,” he said. “There has been a lot of leakage (of shoppers) to other towns and this should help address that.”
The centre will have more than 1,000 car parking spaces and is just a few minutes’ walk from the town’s railway station. A new link road is also planned to aid access. The local authority offices will house 650 workers while the company is negotiating with the OPW on the provision of a new head office for the state body.
Central has been designed by Building Design Partnership and is being marketed by Hamilton Osborne King and Egan Auctioneers.
Bennett reported turnover of €133m in 2004.