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

Im fairly new to this site but i’ve been reading it with interest for a good while and what struck me was the general lack of any news of all the potentially exciting developments that are planned for limerick,i suppose this isnt surprising considering some of the attitudes undoubtedly held by people on this site,unsurprisingly the majority of these people are probably from our “great” capital city. People seem to immediately dismiss any exciting plans for limerick,i see cork is benefiting from lots of coverage,fair play to lexington,obviously a man that cares passionately about his city,i think its about time limerick got in on the act,it really is coming along quite nicely,there are a large number of proposals on the table,ill just guide you through a few of them:

The riverfront is the area that has probably recieved the most attention over the last 10 years with developments such as steamboat quay,jurys inn,the harveys and howleys quay developments and more recently the riverpoint development which will finally rid us of the horrific munchins house,(apparently one of the 1st purpose built office blocks in the country in the 60s),I’ve added a few pics of the general docklands area,the shannon foynes port authority recently launched the docklands masterplan “The development will be phased over a number of years so that the capacity of the working Docks will not be impaired over the short to medium term at least. The Docklands Initiative is expected to include residential, commercial, hotel and other projects”,the overall capital value is around €1 Billion,the full text is here in pdf format, http://www.sfpc.ie/extracts.pdf

Just across the dock road the old limerick racecourse at greenpark is finally ready for development

Planning permission for the development of a mixed use scheme at the fromer Greenpark Racecourse. The proposed development will consist of a retail scheme with a total retail gross floor area of 30881 sq.m incorporation a supermarket (gross floor area 4800 sq.m), two anchor comparison units and a further 39 no. additional retail units. In addition, a food court of 3496 sq.m is proposed at first floor level comprising of 8 no. individual units and management area at second floor level. The application also includes parking at surface and semi-basement levels for 1862 vehicles including staff parking; ancillary site development works; hard and soft landscaping; access roads; service access; service yards and ancillary site works. The application also includes the provision of a major recreation amentity area incorporating playing pitches, (1 full size soccer pitch, 10 no. 5-a-side pitches and 4 no. tennis courts), changing facilities, a playground and landscaping

There are also plans for over a thousand new homes and a web of walkways etc,i think the old finishing straight of the racecourse is to be retained and there are also to be a memorial of the popes visit and a commemorative plaque for john traceys world championship win.

In the city centre the savoy cinema is finally about to be torn down and replaced with a 100 bed hotel,restaurants,leisure centre and 14 retail units fronting onto bedford row which is being pedestrianised within the next few weeks “for the redevelopment of a site of 0.3287 hectares, approximately, indentified primarily as: the Savoy Cinema Complex, Henry Street/Bedford Row; Bedford House, Bedford Row; Nos 2-7 Bedford Row: and the premises running from the rear of No.122 O’Connell Street (parallel with the rear of Nos. 1-9 Bedford Row), Limerick. The development will consist of the demolition of all existing structures on site and the construction of a five to part – ten (including roof top plant) storey over basement building, providing a mixed use scheme comprising: 95 no. residential apartments (some terraced, some with balconies) (7910 sqm (50 no. one-bedroom apartments; 37 no. two bed apartments; and 8 no. three-bed apartments)); 14 no. retail units (5753sqm located from basement to second floor level); and a 100 bedroom hotel,on the opposite side of bedford row the original savoy theatre is being restored to its former glory to house 3 retail units ,the royal george site is also undergoing redevelopment with a 4 star hotel and department store(probably marks & spencer) being built,the old jurys hotel on the ennis road is also being demolished next week to make way for a 12 storey development consisting of a 5 star hotel and 90 apartments,further out that road there are plans for 2 more hotels on the o meara motors site and near coonagh cross,uncertainty still surrounds the site of the ardhu hotel,construction seems to have stopped,patrick punchs pub at punches cross was also demolished lately to be replaced by a new hotel,hopefully the pub will reappear somewhere in the development.the clarion recently announced that as its enjoying 90% occupancy rates its going to convert the top 3 floors from apartments to bedrooms,work is also to start soon on a new hotel on the site of the top filling statio on the dock road,yet another hotel has started on the childers road beside the limerick enterprise park,strange place for a hotel if you ask me.

At the other side of town permission is expected shortly for the biggest shopping centre outside of dublin,on the lines of the dundrum centre and mahon point, to be known as parkway valley,iv seen the drawings and they look quite interesting,due to the topography of the site,it will consist of a number of differing elevations,i think around 60 units plus 10 screen cinema,leisure centre,office and business park and public park,looks like the parkway r/bout could become an even bigger problem,although sliproads to be tunnelled under the old N7 are to be constructed as part of the plan,a similar complex,although slightly smaller is planned for coonagh cross,this sounds like overkill to me,if you consider that a revamped jetland centre is scheduled to open in september across from the gaelic grounds with 35 retail units,proposed cinema,an 8 unit retail park and a motor park,added to existing parks such as the parkway retail park,childers,the new city east(the biggest yet) to open in august and two more in the pipeline for the same area,its all getting a bit ridicoulous,im not a fan of retail parks at all,the cresscent sc is also being extended at the moment,the city centre has to meet these challenges head on,limerick city council could help matters by putting arthurs quay park up for sale,what a disaster that has been,if dunnes stores and roches stores werent so stubborn,a great new city centre quarter could be created.