Re: Re: Question to DDDA at 1pm TODAY

@trace wrote:

Is there not a long-standing legal agreement in place with IFSC in relation to the office rentals there that was intended to provide an ongoing revenue stream that would subsidise a cultural/museum use in chq/Stack A? If so, what is to happen to the fund that has been built up and should grow ‘forever’ now that that building has gone commercial? Anybody know?

The fund will not grow “forever” as it has not been sèt up yet. It is only to be charged when a valid museum emerges. The levy, charged at €0.63 per sq ft, would have raised an estimated €1 million per annum.
I think it is still technically possible for it to be set up. But it will not be in the location originally earmarked – Stack-A

“In appraising options for the cultural element of the development a broad range of proposals was considered by the Docklands Authority and in particular, several museum type proposals were put to the Authority. This kind of operation had been anticipated by the Custom House Docks Development Authority who had arranged for a subvention payment for an IFSC based museum, in IFSC leases. The contribution would equate to circa €1 million p.a. if charged. It was decided that the various museum type proposals were insufficient in their power to attract visitors when operating in the Stack A centre, or were otherwise a poor fit to the overall project, or to the open bright form of the conserved building, and none was selected. No museum proposal was found to be secure financially even with the benefit of the available subvention. The subvention remains valid should a museum proposal emerge in the IFSC at a later date. “

That was the situation in the press release in September, 2002

Around about that time there was a lot of idle office space in the area, and in Dublin in general so it may have been felt that pushing this would make the docklands uncompetitive. The shift in policy was formalised when “Stack A Museum” which had been registered with the CRO (company registration office) on November 1999 was taken over by chq Events Ltd (registered Feb 2003)in 2003. The DDDA holds 100% of the issued share capital chq Events Ltd.

I am not aware of any efforts to access the subvention since.