Look at de state of Cork, like!
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i agree – the bus station refurb is a joke – a half assed effort and it is a disgrace – however, i think that it is a short term effort to save face for the Capital of Culture – and nothing more. Its pathethic that neither CIE nor Bus Eireann can put their heads together and deliver an integrated public transport hub on horgans quay – as proposed many years ago – it just shows how these state bodies under perform and how completely incapable and unambitious they really are. its depressing.
Speaking of the an Caislean development in Ballincollig there seems to be little or no progress being made on the apartments. the tower crane has been on site for several months now but there is little to show for it. Also a lot of the residents who purchased houses in the estate are unhappy with the finish and several have sold the houses back to the developer – surely a bad sign!
Hey All,has anyone got any photos or updated info on how the new terminal and associated works are going at Cork Airport?
Originally posted by corkdood
Speaking of the an Caislean development in Ballincollig there seems to be little or no progress being made on the apartments. the tower crane has been on site for several months now but there is little to show for it. Also a lot of the residents who purchased houses in the estate are unhappy with the finish and several have sold the houses back to the developer – surely a bad sign!Yeah – the contractors awarded the project by Frinailla went into receivership halfway through the project, before they ever got to construct the apartment buildings (hence the tower crane). Frinailla are reportedly livid – but are seeking a new contractor to finish the development. They say that their Grand Parade Plaza development in the city centre is unaffected. John Paul Construction are the builders behind that project.
__________________Also, I agree, the Bus Station is a pathetic effort by CIE in attempt to save face and quelm the angry voices coming from Cork. But this “refurbishment” won’t keep those voices quiet for long. The Bus Station site on Merchants Quay has huge potential. But this is typical of CIE – think Horgan’s Quay and Eglinton Street (which has since been acquired from An Post by O’Flynn Construction for a major retail/residential development). And furthermore, CIE won’t sell the site, which would be beautiful for a new commercial development – one proposal not so long ago incl. a 6-storey over basement commercial/retail development which would link to Merchants Quay SC and incorporated a brand-spanking new bus-station at basement, ground and 1st floor levels (w/ 3 bus park levels). CIE could then contribute or rent with funds received from the sale. Both both these options were unaccepted.
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Also, I’ll get Cork Airport pics up later tonight. The Airport Terminal will be the best in the country. Its already looking pretty good!
Did Frinilla get planning permission for their proposed development for Watercourse Road?
Have Howard Holdings released any info of their proposed Albert Quay development?
no decision from ABP yet on Frinailla’s Blackpool Development, although I expect a refusal on that one, have heard nothing on Albert Quay as yet
Originally posted by Torquemada
Hey All,has anyone got any photos or updated info on how the new terminal and associated works are going at Cork Airport?They are just about to put the third layer of gold leaf onto it I believe.
When completed it will be Irelands first decent terminal building since the original Collinstown Terminal, not that one can compare the needs of those days and these.
Talking about all this transport just got this from http://www.platform11.org
“Cork Rail Plan Gets the Go-Ahead.
Proper Strategic Planning Wins the Day“I can assure you today that the decades of closures and the downgrading of lines and services can now be consigned to the past. The future of the railway is all about growth in customers and expansion of services.”
Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan
– May, 2004“Among the domino effects of the Celtic Tiger, an explosion in car ownership has resulted in major traffic problems being tackled by a multi-billion euro network of ring roads, links, bypasses, flyovers and motorways. Besides bringing home the folly of shutting local railway lines, it also underlines the urgency of re-opening them.”
In what is perhaps the most significant and positive development for Irish rail transport since the construction of the DART in the early 1980’s, the Government has approved the funding of Iarnród Eireann’s Cork Rail Plan, including the reopening of the Midleton branch, which Platform11 wholeheartedly supported since our inception.
The Cork Rail Plan fits all the criteria for the successful cohesion between strategic land usage and reopening of closed rail lines. Platform11 hopes that other local authorities around the country will now follow Cork City and Council’s enlighten approach, and rezone land for development along existing and closed rail corridors. Congrats to all parties involved for this historic development.”
A good decision thinks Diaspora, definitely to be welcomed
Those Cork Airport pictures I promised -> it’s pretty impressive. Designed by HOK in conjunction with JACOBS.
26,500 sq m, 4 air-bridges, 5 luggage belts, 32-check-in desks, shops, restaurants, private lounges, amenity areas, 1200 space multi-storey car-park with a further 600 spaces on the ground, two dual-carriageways, new cargo-bay (x2 larger than current cargo area), new taxiways – the works. Capable of catering 3-million a year comfortably – with provision for 5-million p.a. (which is probably going to be need a lot sooner than first thought).
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Originally posted by mickeydocs
Did Frinilla get planning permission for their proposed development for Watercourse Road?Have Howard Holdings released any info of their proposed Albert Quay development?
No, Frinailla are still in appeal with ABP. I too have a feeling that their plans for the Watercourse Road – a 70-million euro, 7 -> 9 storey residential, educational, medical and commerical development spanning almost half the length of the road – will face it tough on ABP’s decision. Although you never know with ABP sometimes. It would be good for this area of Blackpool undoubtedly, even residents have agreed with this, I think the reason for the refusal by CCC was the height of the development. I also feel there have been more inspired designs. Sometime like the other Frinailla project, the Grand Parade Plaza would have been welcomed easier I think.
Also, Howard Holdings are preparing an application for permission with CCC under an undisclosed wholly-owned company name to develop a 5-storey over basement office building, incorporating Albert House (the current CCC Parking Fines Centre – shudder!!!) on Albert Quay. The site, facing out onto the quay, has been donated by CCC and was formally used as a rail-cargo storage facility, and more recently car-repair facilities and the like. The building is specifically designed to nurture upstart businesses and/or cater for new IT agencies and so on. Already, a vast quantity of foreign interest has been displayed for such a facility in Cork.
O’Flynn Construction plan a major development to the rear of the Howard Holdings project on the former An Post Sorting Office – purchased for 10m euro in Feb.
I’ve attained a list of tenants for the new 500m euro, 381,000sq ft (not incl. Debenhams and Tesco stores) Mahon Point SC in Cork – these tenants will be confirmed for definite in September (if not otherwise stated below) plus additional tenant names – this is only what I can reveal as of now.
Retail Tenants:
-> (C) = Confirmed Letting/Sale, (L) = Letting Agreed
1. Debenhams (C), 2. Tesco (C) 3. Next (C) 4. Schuh (C) 5. Sam McCauley (C) 6. Pamela Scott (C) 7. Mango (C) 8. Zara (C) 9. Champion Sports (C) 10. River Island (C) 11. Sasha (C) 12. Easons (C) 13. Oasis (C) 14. Pull and Bear (C) 15. Clinton Cards (C) 16. HMV (L) 17. Barratts (C). 18. Vero Moda (L) 19. Jack & Jones (L) 20. fcuk (C) 21. 3G (L) 22. Topshop (L)* 23. Game (C) 24. Miss Selfridge (L) 25. Waterstones (L) 26. Monsoon (L) – many more to be confirmed.
[*Arcadia has announced that it plans to limit its expansion plans for reasons of cost-cutting. Although its Irish stores remain among its most profitable. It is unknown as to how this may affect its Mahon Point store as no papers have yet been signed.]
Food Court Tenants:
1. McDonalds (C) 2. KFC (C) 3. Zumo Juice Bars (L) 4. Subway (L) – plus more to be confirmed.Retail Park Tenants:
1. B&Q (C) 2. Johnson & Perrott (C). 3. Webprint Concepts (C)Multiplex Tenant:
1. Ward Anderson (L) (*had contested with UCI)Hotel Operator:
1. Hilton Hotels International (C)__________________________
Just on this note:
Wilton SC Extension:
Confirmed Retail Tenants: 1. New Look 2. Specsavers 3. Brown Thomas (BT2) 4. Azal Properties (O’Brien’s Sandwich Bar) – more to be announced soon.
Blackpool Retail Park: 1. Atlantic Homecare 2. BPD Leisure (Bowling Alley) 3. Reel Cinemas (Multiplex) – more to be announced soon.
Eastgate, Little Island, Commercial Park: 1. PC World 2. Homebase – more to be announced soon.
Ballincollig Town Centre SC: 1. Marks & Spencer (this is the rumoured tenant. No confirmations until end of July according to O’Flynn Construction)
Well – in-line with my earlier reports, the Mercy University Hospital in Cork together with UCC have purchased the Irish Distillers site on the North Mall for 20m euro. The lands are to be split evenly between the 2 organisations.
Now that the bidding is closed, I can tell you that a joint venture of bidders, one reportedly Hanranka Ltd. has bid also for the site, but withdrew due to undisclosed reasons. The private venture would have included a new urban quarter for Cork with offices, shopping boulevards, cafes, restaurants, residential units, boardwalks, nightclubs, bars, public amenity park, university buildings and a site that would have been offered to the Mercy Hospital anyway. It’s a shame this didn’t get through.
The Mercy claim to have trouble financing their new A&E but have been able to splash out on this acquisition. UCC, also claiming financial restrictions, are completing their new 50m Medical Facility at Brookfield, have just received planning for a new 25m euro Pharmacy School on College Road, applied for planning for a new 35m euro Boole Library extension and are applying for a new 62m-euro IT centre on the former Greyhound Track along the Western Road. Hmmmm. Well I suppose congratulations are in order – I just hope they use the lands wisely.
firstly I was wondering is there any news on the proposed Cork to NY route that was mentioned somewhere at the start of this thread?
Also lexington I thought that IT centre for UCC had got planning ages ago, thought they should have started construction well before now!!
BTW good thread and the updates are excellent Lexington, keep us informed!!
Originally posted by Leesider
firstly I was wondering is there any news on the proposed Cork to NY route that was mentioned somewhere at the start of this thread?Also lexington I thought that IT centre for UCC had got planning ages ago, thought they should have started construction well before now!!
BTW good thread and the updates are excellent Lexington, keep us informed!!
Thanks man! I appreciate that seriously! 🙂
The Cork – New York JFK route is to be run by Aer Lingus 3x a week at first – pending on the outcome of US-Ireland Bilateral Aviation Agreements. (Basically, it comes down to abolishing the Shannon Stop-over – at the moment, for every transatlantic flight from an Irish city besides Shannon, has to be met with the same number of flights to that transatlantic destination from Shannon – it’s a complete joke!)The negotiations are on-going. Willie Walsh, CEO of Aer Lingus said that in the long-run, it would make more economic sense to have more transatlantic passenger flights from Cork rather than Shannon – which he believes should become one of the Cargo Hubs of Europe. It does make sense – more jobs in the long-run. But he stresses the need for an extended runway and new taxiways. The new terminal development (see previous Cork Airport post) is already catering to new parking areas and air-bridges to facilitate such aircraft. This year, Cork will carry almost a third more passengers than Shannon. (projected 2.8 < million passengers)
And no formal application for Planning has been submitted by UCC with relation to the IT Centre construction – but has been outlined as part of the UCC Development Plan. A sort of outline permission has been granted subject to conditions – by ‘outline’ I mean, support by CCC, but no formal planning.
*UPDATES*The Dept. of Education have said that they intend to stand by Jarvis in the development of the CSM – but though some preliminary construction work has begun, no construction other than this will begin until at least June 2005 (a further push back along the time-line). This, it is claimed, is due to the fact that signatures are needed by all Jarvis’ financial backers to give them the go-ahead in lieu of the construction firm’s 230m euro debt.
Transatlantic flights are crucial to our attempts to attract software and financial operations to the city, which is imperative if we are to seriously launch our city as a true business city.
In a previous post Lexington mentioned German banks being interested in relocating Leeside, have you heard anything since?
Lexington, I hope what you heard about marks and spencer becoming an anchor in Ballincollig will become a reality. I heard rumours Tesco where in line for the food anchor. I’m all for competition in the retail sector but we need variety. tesco are represented in almost every major retail development at the moment e.g. Mahon point, Dundrum Town centre, Clare Hall, Redevelopment of Wilton. Please not another Tesco in Ballincollig!
I agree that transatlantic flights are and will become ever more important to Cork – and by result, the whole Southern Region, a region of over 1.1m people.
-> No news on the German bank for the docklands. There are many multimillion euro deals currently being organised within City Hall at the moment with relation to the docklands in Cork, one report (by Tommy Barker of Irish Examiner, Thurs 8th July 2004) is rumoured to be in excess of 200m euro. The German bank residency could depend on the outcome of any one of these deals.
-> According to the PRO for O’Flynn Construction’s Ballincollig Town Centre project, a major food retail chain has been agreed to anchor the SC. Although Tesco is a name that has been put strongly up in the air, Tesco Ireland claim their main focus has been on Mahon Point and Wilton. This does not rule them out, but Marks & Spencer, who long ago where the front-runners to anchor the food store at Mahon Point and later pulled out, have been seeking a second property in Cork city (their current Cork store is the 4th most profitable in the entire network) and local real estate agents have hinted strongly that BTC is the best available location.
However the decision has already been made and only time will reveal. Processes of elimination narrow the list of potentials, it won’t be SuperValu, they already have 2 stores in town and it would adversely affect these existing businesses. Dunnes are focusing on a new store in Carrigaline and Bishopstown Court nearby is ongoing expansion. It is too close to BTC to be viable. Tesco may, but their huge new 24hr Wilton SC store is still undergoing development and a new store at Mahon Point makes location to BTC unlikely – but still a possibility. That leaves Marks & Spencer, who have been seeking a new Cork property actively and would stand to benefit greatly from a new store here. Aldi and Lidl are pursuing their own seperate new stores in Ballincollig.
Yes I was thinking along the same lines, because I knew how Marks and Spencer had wanted to locate at Mahon Point. I was also thinking about Superquinn but I don’t think they have much intent on entering the Cork Market at the moment.
Anybody got a link to this story? I couldn’t find it in the archives.
-> No news on the German bank for the docklands. There are many multimillion euro deals currently being organised within City Hall at the moment with relation to the docklands in Cork, one report (by Tommy Barker of Irish Examiner, Thurs 8th July 2004) is rumoured to be in excess of 200m euro. The German bank residency could depend on the outcome of any one of these deals.
The Examiner are terrible for putting their Commercial Property news online. Just the Residential Stuff.
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