Supermarket project set to create 400 jobs

Date Published: 24-Nov-2011

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

A planning application is set to be lodged within the next month for a massive €15 million Tesco Extra supermarket in the Westside, the Galway City Tribune has learned.

It will be the first major commercial development to get underway in the city since the collapse of the construction and property sectors, and will see around 150 jobs created during the construction phase and around 250 more full and part-time jobs when the superstore is up and running.

Former Mayor Micheál Ó hUigínn – who owns the 9.5 acre site off the Seamus Quirke Road – confirmed to the Galway City Tribune this week that a number of pre-planning meetings have taken place in City Hall and an application will be lodged “probably before Christmas”.

The massive 7,000 square metre store will include a supermarket and will also stock clothing, footwear, electrical goods, hardware, gardening equipment and, potentially, a pharmacy.

It will be developed by Mr Ó hUigínn, with an overall investment in the region of €15m and is expected to take around 18 months to build.

The planning process – including an appeal, which is expected – will take around two years, so the store is not expected to open until mid-2015.

City planners have asked the developer to include a community element on the site such as a civic square and café, and a focal point such as a statue.

The controversial site was the subject of a High Court Judicial Review earlier this year, after Mr Ó hUigínn successfully challenged a decision by councillors to refuse to rezone the land for ‘District Centre’ usage.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.