Northside Shopping Centre

Northside Shopping Centre is a shopping centre located in Coolock, a suburban area in Dublin's Northside. One of the earliest shopping centres in Ireland, it was built in 1970 and is the only one with a swimming pool. It has been expanded, refurbished and renovated a number of times and passed through the hands of the National Asset Management Agency, before being sold to Patron Capital. Patron then sold the centre for a sum of €50 million in 2019 to German company Am Alpha.

Northside Shopping Centre
Northside Shopping Centre logo
LocationCoolock, Dublin, Ireland
Coordinates53.395761°N 6.213612°W / 53.395761; -6.213612
AddressOscar Traynor Road
Opening date18 June 1970 (1970-06-18)
OwnerAM Alpha
ArchitectStephenson Gibney & Associates
Parking600+[1]
Websitenorthsideshoppingcentre.ie

History

The centre was originally constructed in 1970 as an open-air facility, designed by Stephenson Gibney & Associates for Green Property Co Ltd in association with Dublin Corporation at the cost of £1 million.[2]

Northside, along with Stillorgan Shopping Centre, which remained open-air for decades, was one of the first modern shopping centres in Ireland. The local authority, then Dublin Corporation, arranged for a municipal swimming pool to be constructed above the shopping centre.

Renovations and extension in the 1980s and 2008 have covered most of Sam Stephenson's original open-space concept.[3]

In 2013 it was announced that a €5 million further refurbishment was about to commence in the centre.[4] This followed the loss of the anchor non-food store, a Dunnes Stores branch, and saw the arrival of new shops, including Heatons (with Sportsworld), new dining facilities, and a Well Woman Centre. The refurbishment was completed in late 2016 following a 2-phase modernisation of both interior and exterior.[5]

The centre was numbered among the property assets of NAMA, Ireland's post-recession National Asset Management Agency; it was subsequently sold to Patron Capital for €49m.[6]

The branch of Paddy Power bookmakers in the car park was one of the venues visited in a Channel 4's Undercover Boss episode 3, season 4.[7]

Competition

Three other centres, Omni Park Shopping Centre, Artaine Castle Shopping Centre and Clarehall Shopping Centre, compete for business in the area.

A bus stopped in front of the shopping centre, May 1990
The old logo, in use from 1970–2016

References
  1. "Northside Shopping Centre". Savills Marketing Commercialisation and Research. 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  2. "£1m. shopping centre". Irish Examiner. 24 October 1969. p. 2. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Irish Newspaper Archives.
  3. "1970 – Northside Shopping Centre, Coolock, Dublin". Archiseek. 2015.
  4. "€5m Investment for Northside Shopping Centre". Insider Media. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  5. "It's celebration time at Northside Shopping Centre". Dublin People (newspaper). 16 October 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  6. "Nama sales so far and still to come". Project Drive. Irish Independent. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  7. "Series 4 - Episode 3 – William Reeve, Paddy Power". Channel 4. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
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