Penneys’ €60m expansion on Cork's St Patrick's Street set to begin by April
Penneys Patrick Street
THE long-awaited €60m expansion of retail giant Penneys’ flagship Cork city centre store looks set to start by next April after a more than three-year delay that centred on a minor alleyway.
The understands that final processes are being worked through in relation to the Elbow Lane title, after a public right of way was extinguished by a vote of Cork City councillors last July.
Elbow Lane, a right-angled, gated alley that runs from Oliver Plunkett Street down the western side of Penneys and connects to Cook St, was the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanála after Cork City Council cleared Penneys to grow their St Patrick's St store by almost 50% in August 2021.
The single objector to the Primark Ltd/O’Flynn Construction redevelopment plan, whose business was at 38 Cook St, expressed concerns that the lane, which traverses a section of the Penneys’ site, would no longer be available for storing refuse bins and that the planning grant would extinguish a public right of way. However, An Bord Pleanála found in favour of the developers last November. Since then, a section of the right of way has been extinguished and the final processes in relation to Elbow Lane are being worked through, along with some planning compliance issues, with the hope that work will begin by the end of Q1/start of Q2 next year. The decorative entrance to Elbow Lane on Cook St is to be retained.
The redevelopment follows 10 years of site assembly by Primark with the help of O’Flynn Construction, creating almost an entire block on St Patrick’s St, taking in a number of smaller retail units on the main street and on Cook St.
The city centre suffered badly post-covid: the most high-profile casualty was the former Debenhams which closed in April 2020. It is yet to re-open, 18 months after it was bought by Irish sports retail chain Intersport/Elverys for c €12m.
However fortunes have improved on the high street over the past two years. New arrivals include fashion brand Flannels; UK footwear retailers Dune; outdoor wear retailers North Face, Spanish clothing giant Mango, Carrolls Irish gifts souvenir shop, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and more recently, jewellery sellers Neve/Diamond Direct, opening at No 22, the former Cudmore's, under the banner of Austen & Blake.
Other potential arrivals include Seasalt Cornwall to the old French Connection premises at No 86 St Patrick St, and fashion jewellers Lovisa at the former Game Stop, at the corner of Princes St/St Patrick's St.
