THE freshly-named 'Junction' retail park in Antrim will have more than 900 permanent staff on site and generate close to £16 million a year in salaries once work on a planned £30 million redevelopment is completed in two years, its owners say.
Its owners Lotus Group - who've dropped the 'One' off the former Junction One - are completely overhauling the 580,000 sq ft complex, adding more than a dozen new shops (including at least two brands with no current presence in the north), cafes and restaurants and a cinema, as well as creating a new entrance, road infrastructure and outdoor multi-purpose sports court.
And the expansion will add 475 jobs (with an increased wage bill of £8.4m) to complement the existing 459 people currently working there. An additional 430 jobs are also expected to be created during the construction phase.
One year ago London investment manager Tristan Capital Partners and Lotus Group paid a combined £40 million for The Outlet in Banbridge (it originally cost £70 million to develop) and Junction One retail park in Antrim - the first time the rival centres have been under single ownership.
Junction One's rebrand to 'The Junction' is the first step in the planned £30 million redevelopment its owners believe will make it Northern Ireland’s largest shopping and leisure destination.
"You won't know the place when it's finished, but consumers will be blown away by it," says Lotus Group's asset and property management director Alastair Coulson.
"It really will be something special, and while legal issues prevent me from naming some of the brands at this stage, I'm certain visitors will be impressed with the collection of brands on their way here."
Phase one of the development, set to begin within months, will include a new drive-thru Starbucks coffee house and a drive-thru fast food restaurant.
The site will be spilt into a number of different areas including a supermarket quarter, food and drinks quarter, home retail quarter and a shopping and leisure quarter.
Other developments include changes and improvements to the layout and access to the site, making it easier for visitors to enjoy the whole retail park including the existing Asda and Homebase stores. To further improve customer experience, there will be additional car parking spaces, new cycle routes and vibrant landscaping.
Coulson added: "The submission of the master-plan planning application follows a successful community consultation process, extensive retail demand analysis and discussions with many retailers over the past three months.
"We are hopeful that following a positive planning decision we will be able to invest £30 million into the retail park to dramatically change the look and feel of the site as it currently sits and help transform it into a top performing retail and leisure destination.
“The plans will improve the physical environment, the customer experience and will introduce new brands to the site for the first time. The aim is to make The Junction Northern Ireland’s premier shopping and leisure destination.
"We also expect further investment will be triggered off the back of a successful redevelopment and indirect benefits will be numerous for the local supply chain and area."
Despite the old Junction One site having had a 'tired' feel, it still recorded a footfall of 2.1 million last year (it was 1.6m at the Outlet in Banbridge) - 20 per cent up on the previous year.
Indeed some 997,000 people - or more than half the population of Northern Ireland - live within a 45-minute drive of The Junction, according to official analysis.
