Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?
From todays IT Commercial property section..Also mentions the same rumour I heard earlier in the year that Brown Thomas was possibly to relocate to the Opera Centre and we will eventually see the back of that ugly building dominating O’Connell Street. Would be great if they do. Better image of the entrance to the Opera Centre at the corner of Ellen Street and Patrick Street which looks a lot better than the original one the Post and Leader had. Will see if I can scan in..it doesn’t seem to be online.
Full article here
” The new Opera shopping centre – planned for the centre of Limerick by Gerry O’Reilly, Terry Sweeney and David Courtney – was unveiled at a time when two more shopping centres are under construction in the city and two others are to be redeveloped.
The timing of the Opera project may well be fortuitous because Limerick is the only Irish city to have allowed out-of-town shopping centres to grow like topsy at the expense of the traditional shopping streets in the city centre. It is also the only Irish city where out-of-town retail rents are higher than on the high streets – a serious indictment of the way the city council has managed shopping developments.
The Opera scheme has the potential to help shift the balance back in favour of the city because it will involve the regeneration of a large block of rundown buildings, some almost opposite Arthur’s Quay shopping centre and running around the corner to Bank Place and Michael Street at the rear.
The plan is to provide 40,000sq m (430,556sq ft) of shopping space on two main levels and two smaller top floors, much of it in modern shopping malls behind Georgian facades.
The well located site was quietly assembled over the years by Northern Ireland businessmen Sam Morrison and Sunil Sharma who later sold it for a reputed €100 million.
Larry Brennan of Savills HOK will be letting agent for the centre which will have two main anchor tenants and about 40 shop units. The promoters will obviously be hoping that Brown Thomas may fill one of those anchor units by moving down from its tired store on O’Connell Street.
The Opera centre will also have a foodcourt to seat 500 people. Otherwise it will be aimed at fashion and lifestyle retailers. The development is likely to trigger an upgrading of the Arthur’s Quay shopping centre which has dated rapidly despite the fact that it is not yet 20 years in business.
Also due to be redeveloped is the rundown Parkway shopping centre on the Dublin Road which was acquired last year by Pat Doherty’s Harcourt Group. A few hundred yards away, Liam Carroll is building Parkway Valley shopping centre in competition with the impressive new Dunnes Stores on nearby Childers Road. And on the opposite end of the city, Tesco is to anchor a new shopping centre known as Coonagh Cross on the Ennis Road. It will be only a short distance from the new Jetland Centre anchored by Dunnes and still struggling to make its mark.”
