Drive-thru included in key five acre Carrigaline mixed use town centre site being sold by Aldi 

The site, being sold by Aldi who are to open a new €10 million 15,000 sq ft store in November, has had an ambitious development history dating back to the early 2000s, with joint development plans at the time by veteran retailer developers the Love family’s Shipton Group, with local SuperValu retailer and hotelier Barry Collins also in the frame at the time.

The land, now fringed by the long-awaited and completed western relief road, touches Main Street where Aldi is set in mid-site position, between the SuperValue carpark and the Carrigaline Court Hotel and the old Carrigaline Pottery site.

The larger block was subsequently acquired by Aldi, who are now selling the surplus of 5.21 acres they had acquired.

The site allows for mixed commercial/residential fronting Main Street, 100 metres from SuperValu on the Cork side of the town next to the AIB branch and the Aldi store (claiming 100% of enerty used will come from green sources) will employ 30 when it opens prior to Christmas.

Aldi's other south Cork stores currently are at Grange, Douglas and Passage West, as well as across the Lee/harbour at Cobh.

The German discount retailer went for planning for their own premises, and for a café unit (granted in 2022 by the local authority): as part of their planning application they had to submit a Master Plan for the site, with the balance now being marketed by agents Cushman & Wakefield with a €2.9 million price guide, as an entire or in lots as a sub-division.

The agents say the mixed use opportunity, which bounds the SuperValu carpark in the centre of the town serving a population of 16,000 and growing “is the most prominent commercial/residential site remaining in Carrigaline and when complete will add to the ongoing improvements in the town over the last ten to 15 years."

The masterplan includes a new public plaza for the local community, a café, 78 residential units, and opportunities for other mixed commercial and community/cultural uses, with pedestrian links from Main Street and vehicle access from the new Western Inner Relief Road.

Its delivery in new developer hands -  whether led by one entity or several – will see elements of the original Love family/Shipton Group’s plan come to fruition.

The town centre site was assembled in the early to mid 2000s at the same time as Shipton Group had ambitious plans for Douglas, where it had developed two large shopping centres, Blackpool, Carrigaline, Fermoy and Midleton.

Their Carrigaline plan was deemed dependent on the western relief road, with CPOs issued around 2007, just prior to the country’s economic crash.

The local Carrigaline retail/supermarket scene has evolved since, with a Lidl and a Dunnes open off the Crosshaven Road, and with Aldi now due to join the fray just in time for the Christmsn spending spredd.

Agents Peter O’Flynn and Philip Horgan of Cushman & Wakefield say the indicative masterplan completed by Aldi is not binding, and add “other development types are also possible as the lands are zoned Town Centre as per the Cork County Development Plan 2022 – 2028 to provide for mixed uses including residential, commercial, retail, theatre, community facilities, offices, restaurant, café.”

At present the plan suggest residential on 0.70 acres, commercial and residential on 1.06 acres, leisure on 1.63 acres and a drive thru on 0.92 acre, with an operator not as yet identified but likely to come under competitive interest from operators to include McDonalds, KFC, Dinos and others.

The key, central Carrigaline land parcel is for sale by private treaty.

DETAILS: Cushman & Wakefield 021-4275454