THE public will have their chance from this week to air their views on plans for a £30 million scheme to reinvigorate the Junction One retail complex in Antrim.
Owners the Lotus Group - who with London investment manager Tristan Capital Partners paid £40 million in April 2015 to buy both Junction One and The Outlet in Banbridge - say they expect to submit a planning application in the next few months.
But the public will be given a say on their draft proposals, with a community consultation and exhibition taking place this Wednesday (10am – 6pm) and Thursday (10am – 9pm) in the Enkalon Suite at unit 9 within Junction One.
For those who can’t make the event, the information will be available for viewing at www.thejunctionshopping.com from 10am today.
Subject to planning approval, the redevelopment is expected to see a significant number of new and well-known leisure and retail brands set up at Junction One for the first time.
An economic impact assessment by Oxford Economics concluded that almost 475 new jobs will be created in the operational phase, with an increased wage bill of £8.4m, contributing £17.6m to the local economy.
An additional 430 jobs with a wage contribution of £10.9m is expected in the construction phase alone.
The investment will see dramatic changes to the look and feel of Junction One as it currently sits.
Alastair Coulson, asset and property management director at the Lotus Group, said: “This is a significant investment that will change the face of Junction One.
"As part of this large scale master-plan planning application we are welcoming anyone with an interest in seeing the plans, to come and view the information that will be on display.
“Community consultation plays an important role in the planning process and we are going above and beyond to make sure that we have consulted with as many people as possible.
"We already started the process at the end of last year with meetings and presentations to a range of elected representatives and local council officials. We now want to share our exciting vision with everyone in the local area. Our development team will be on hand to answer any questions across the two day exhibition.”
Last week Lotus confirmed that is plans to spend £4 million revamping Junction One's sister retail village The Outlet, which will include installing a roof made from a transparent plastic membrane similar to that used in the Eden Project in Cornwall, Beijing's National Aquatics Centre and the Bayern Munich stadium in Germany.
