Jervis Shopping Centre seeks planning permission to convert eight-year vacant unit into restaurant space

The operator of Dublin's Jervis Shopping Centre has applied to Dublin City Council for permission to convert a 1,400 sq m first-floor retail unit into restaurant space, in a move aimed at reactivating a unit that has remained vacant since January 2018 when US youth fashion retailer Forever 21 closed its only Irish store.

The Irish Times reports that JSC Properties Limited, which operates the centre, submitted the application through planning consultants JSA Planning, citing persistent difficulty in re-letting the unit in its existing retail format due to its first-floor location and limited shopfront presence.

"The unit has been vacant since January 2018 and, despite extensive marketing, has received no offers," JSA Planning said in its submission. "The applicant advises that the unit is constrained for retail use by its first-floor location and limited shopfront presence, which has rendered it difficult to re-let in its former retail format."

Unit 20 accounts for five per cent of the centre's total floorspace, making it one of the largest individual units at Jervis. The centre currently carries a vacancy rate of close to 30 per cent, which JSC Properties says has corresponded with a decline in peak annual footfall from 16 million to 11 million visitors.

If approved, the conversion would reduce Jervis's overall retail floorspace from 79 per cent to 75 per cent of the total, while increasing the proportion of food and beverage space from six per cent to 11 per cent, bringing the centre's tenant mix more closely in line with the direction travel seen across Irish and UK retail destinations in recent years.

Jervis Shopping Centre was acquired last year by UK-headquartered retail property investor Pradera, a specialist in retail property investment and fund management, in a transaction that signalled continued institutional appetite for repositioning underperforming Irish retail assets.

JSC Properties' submission argued that the proposed restaurant use would directly address the vacancy problem. "There is low market demand for large-format retail units at first-floor level, which has rendered the unit unlettable in its previous retail form," the submission stated. "The proposed development will reactivate this long-vacant floorspace through a complementary restaurant use in line with the repurposing approach supported by the retail strategy."