McDonald’s drive-thru restaurant at Rushmere in Craigavon is to be demolished – to make way for car parking.
Meanwhile, a new ‘anchor’ store is on the cards inside the main shopping centre.
Two separate applications have been lodged with ABC Council which, if approved, will bring major changes for Rushmere.
Centre owners Killahoey Ltd has submitted the proposals which are now under consideration.
One details plans for the “demolition” of the McDonald’s drive-thru restaurant, which would see the “creation of new car parking spaces and consequential reorganisation of car parking layout”.
The 300 sq m restaurant would be removed and a total of 82 parking spaces provided in its plan – 71 more than the 11 already offered for use for McDonalds diners.
This would increase overall car parking provision at Rushmere from 1,783 spaces to 1,854.
Armagh I contacted McDonalds to see what their plans were – if any – regards to its future in the Craigavon area.
At the time of publication, three days after making contact, no response has yet been received.
A planning application had been lodged in January for another drive-thru at the neighbouring Marlborough Retail Park, in addition to Burger King, Greggs and Starbucks, with no name linked at that time with the future user and now prompting speculation that McDonalds could be en route there unless it intends to quit the area entirely.
Within the main shopping centre, meanwhile, there are plans to amalgamate the former Iceland store and the Home Bargains unit and construct an extension.
There would also be a new glazed shopfront for this ‘anchor’ unit along Rushmere’s west elevation.
With Iceland having already left, Armagh I contacted sitting tenant Home Bargains’ parent company TJ Morris to enquire if they were expanding to take over that new single planned unit or if they had any alternative plans in relation to their future presence in Rushmere.
But the company is remaining tight-lipped, with a spokesperson advising they “have no information for release at this time”.
With Units 11 and 15 joined together, and the extension built, collective floorspace would increased from 3,309 sq metres to 3,649 sq metres – 340 sq metres more than at present.
The new-look store is intended for a “single anchor unit for unrestricted retail purposes”.
It will retain an internal access through the shopping mall, itself, while a new shop front with display window will be installed along the west elevation.
The plans emerge in what is the 50th anniversary of Rushmere Shopping Centre being built. It was originally constructed in 1976, redeveloped in the 1990s with a phase two extension in 1998.
A third phase was added in 2004 and a further extension – involving restaurant units – was built in 2018.
It has been the site of a wave of refurbishment and regeneration proposals since the new owners bought the complex in 2023.
The site was previously occupied by Tesco as one unit. It was one of the anchor units for Rushmere, with 2,118 sq metres of retail sales floorspace on the ground floor. There was also a mezzanine level of 139 sq metres and a basement of a further 1,052 sq metres.
Tesco left the shopping centre in February 2011, but had secured full planning to subdivide its former store into two and change th internal elevations and create a new entrance.
There was no condition that prevented the unit from being amalgamated in the future, which now is being proposed.
There was also no restriction on the type of retail goods that could be sold from the two stores.
When sub-divided, one of the units was occupied by Home Bargains and the other by Iceland Foods. The latter left Rushmere in October last year and relocated to a new base in the nearby Marlborough Retail Park, trading under its Food Warehouse
brand. The former Iceland unit has remained vacant since.
According to a supporting statement: “The proposal seeks to amalgamate two smaller retail units and extend those by 340sqm. This will create a large single unit comprising 2,458 sqm on the ground floor. No change is sought to the basement or mezzanine floor.
“Given the absence of a condition that prevents the amalgamation of the two units, planning permission is not required to make this change.”
However, planning permission is required to extend the unit and create the new shopfront.
The statement adds: “The proposed retail use will connect into the existing drainage system and it will have no additional
impact compared to the existing and former use by Home Bargains and Iceland.
“The new glazing will help to create an active frontage when seen from the road system and the car park. This will also contribute to natural and passive surveillance of the external space.
“There are a range of main town centre uses at this shopping complex that include retail, food and beverage, business and leisure. Collectively they introduce diversity to the mix of existing land uses and provide additional reasons for shoppers and others to be attracted to the area, increase their dwell time and spend more money which, in turn, can be reinvested into the area through jobs, other trading partnerships and improvements to the physical building and associated services.
“The proposal will reintroduce an anchor unit at this location, consistent with the original design concept of the phase two extension.”
Describing the proposals as “consistent” with policy, the applicant says the plans will “enhance the retail mix at the shopping centre and complement the other main town centre uses”, while also making a “beneficial reuse of an existing vacant unit within the centre”.
The statement adds: “The proposed retail unit will be visited as part of a trip to Rushmere. It will not be an attraction in its own right, as the Tesco was previously. It will therefore contribute to linked trips with the other shops and services within the complex and so shared parking is a viable option.
“The proposal will transform the appearance of the west entrance area, opening the blank brick façade to a modern, welcoming and vibrant glazed frontage, with blue/black engineering brick piers and surrounds that have been used successfully at other locations around Rushmere. It will also create direct access to the car park.
“This is a proposal to re-establish an anchor retail unit in its former location that will diversify and complement the range of uses in the primary retail core of the town centre.
“About half of the applicant site is vacant and so the proposal will bring this into beneficial use. That will enhance the appearance and character of the shopping centre and it will have a positive impact on the vitality and viability of the primary retail core of the town centre.”
Both applications will now be advertised shortly.
