The Irish Times

Stack A

Stack A - or CHQ - is set to open next year as an indoor market for homeware and food retailers. After 15 years of countless abortive development plans, the 19th century warehouse in Dublin's docklands is finally set to open next year as an indoor market for homeware and food retailers. CHQ, or Stack A as it used to be known, was supposed to have been unveiled in early 2006 as a hotel and entertainment centre. But three weeks ago publican Hugh O'Regan, who had rented 60 per cent of the vast three-storey warehouse, ditched the scheme leaving the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) to devise yet another development plan for what is regarded by many in the property industry as a white elephant. The organisation's board has now seized upon what it hopes will be the final concept for CHQ and claims the building will be "fully functional" some time during 2006. However, the details for what the DDDA has planned for the former warehouse remain sketchy. According to Ms Loretta Lambkin, the DDDA's marketing director, the retail focus at CHQ will be on the "immersion of the senses" with the main traders selected from the food and homeware sectors.