The Point Village is a commercial and residential development in the North Wall area of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The elements of the €800 million development completed to date include offices and residential and hotel accommodation, a small shopping centre, a cinema, a museum and a five-level underground car park. The development ran into a number of problems and was taken over by NAMA in April 2013.

Development

Completed projects

Point Square

The main building of the development - now branded as Point Square - containing the retail, hotel and cinema elements as well as office space - was completed prior to the

post-2008 Irish economic downturn The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland, coincided with a Post-2008 Irish banking crisis, series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign dire ...

, however the retail element did not open except as an entry to the cinema. Dunnes Stores had agreed to be the anchor of the retail element, but has delayed opening the store for more than a decade, appealing repeated legal demands to do so. Some of the internal units are to be combined and converted to health or leisure units due to continued low demand for retail Dunnes Stores eventually opened a supermarket and a Cafe Sol outlet in the shopping centre in 2023 and have since opened an extended Grocery, Fashion & Homeware store in December 2024. They are the only retail outlet open in the centre. The office space has been taken by

Oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

, moving some operations from their main location at East Point Business Park, and Voxpro. The hotel element of the development operates as The Gibson Hotel, opened in June 2010 and including nine suites, with access to terrace gardens. It also includes a spa, gymnasium, two outdoor hot-tubs and large conference facilities. Other tenants include Starbucks, Eddie Rockets, Ruby's Pizza & Grill and the Glasshouse Bar outside in the square.

3Arena

The 3Arena (formerly the O₂ concert venue) opened in December 2008, built on the site of the former Point Theatre, a music venue which operated from 1988 to 2007. Following its closure, the site underwent major redevelopment and was renamed after O2 phone company. In September 2014, the music venue was renamed 3Arena, after O2 Ireland was sold to Three.

Student accommodation

Student accommodation provider ''Host'' has built a 996-bed unit named "Point Campus" to the North of the development, featuring retail on the ground floor, where tenants include Centra, Pita Pit and Camile Thai.

Other projects

The 73m Exo Building was completed, in 2022, at the eastern end of Point Village. As of 2018, an aparthotel was under construction to the west of the 3Arena, filling the last empty site. This hotel was acquired by ''SACO'', a UK based apart-hotel group, and was due to be operated by ''Lockeliving''.

Temporary or cancelled projects

The Point Village Square hosted a market from May to November 2010, as well as The

Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

, a €10m "observation wheel", from July 2010 until November 2011. The Dublin Flea Market held its annual Christmas event inside the Point Square building until 2018. There were plans to build a 120-metre skyscraper (called the "Point Village Watchtower") with apartments, offices and a bar and restaurant. Although the developer invested circa €15 in underground works, the project was later abandoned.

Transport

The Point is the easternmost terminus of the docklands extension of the

Luas Luas (, Irish language, Irish: ; meaning 'speed') is a tram system in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. There are two main lines: the Green Line (Luas), Green Line, which began operating on 30 June 2004, and the Red Line (Luas), Red Line ...

Red Line light rail system is located in the middle of the development. This Luas link to Tallaght and Saggart connects the Point Village to other transport options, including the DART,

suburban rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

, Busáras, mainline rail, and the future MetroLink. The Dublin Port Tunnel southern portal is located nearby.

References

External links

* {{Official website Dublin Docklands North Wall, Dublin Office buildings in the Republic of Ireland