Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?

Its almost heartbreaking to see those photos from years gone by, O Connell st was much more impressive back then, it really was a grand street with many fine buildings, i’ve got a book full of pictures like this at home and the lower portion of the street has changed almost beyond recognition since the 1950s, a fair amount of this was down to unfortunate tragedies, both roches and todds were destroyed by fire and cannocks was demolished instead of being restored 😡 of course todds was replaced with what is probably the city’s ugliest building, surely brown thomas take more pride in their appearance than this!

O Connell street from the corner of bedford row where the bank of Ireland now stands

This is a pic of william st with the todds building on the right, quite an imposing building, they dont make em like this anymore!

As for the planning app, ya its the same development, the residential element is being built in 3 phases, not sure if its got permission yet but it definately will as the city council themselves drew up the masterplan with the limerick race company, there is to be a commemorative monument to mark the popes visit and one to mark john traceys world championship win there, in fairness it looks like a well balanced development on paper!, this was also to be the site of the new greyhound stadium but there was problems with the ground conditions, a new state of the art stadium is going ahead at coonagh cross and should be open within 2 years, speaking of coonagh cross more details have been released of the shopping complex planned for the area, looks pretty run of the mill and boring to me! http://www.coonaghcross.com

Seems like every new shopping centre in limerick is claiming to be the biggest, so is the planned development at the back of patrick st, hopefully we’ll hear some concrete details fairly soon, it has the potential to be a really positive development for the city centre but only if its done right, what we dont want is a big soul-less shopping centre, what i would much rather see is a retention of the existing streets, there are many interesting and historical buildings in this quarter of the city and it would be a travesty is they were all destroyed, this area should be rejuvenated using existing buildings and where it is neccessary clear the derelict sites and replace them with new structures,it would be a much more vibrant and atmospheric place if the majority of this area was kept intact!