The Opera Centre

‘Funding not in place’ to complete Limerick’s Opera Centre development (Limerick Leader) 😡

FEARS that the much-awaited Opera Centre development in Limerick may not materialise have been heightened after the company auditors confirmed that “no funding is currently in place to complete the project”.

While the directors of the company believe financial support for the project will be maintained, the auditors BDO said “there is no certainty that this will be the case”.

The company behind the €350m shopping centre – Regeneration Developments Ltd – owed creditors €117.5m by the end of 2008, according to the latest accounts submitted to the Companies Registration Office, which were signed off this January 18.

Some €112m has now been spent on the unbuilt site, which was been in the pipeline for four years, with €86m owed in bank loans. Interest on bank loans rose to €3.6m in 2008, from €1.7m in 2007.

Shareholders loans – which are unsecure – came to €30.7m, while bank borrowings were secured with a guarantee for €50m from three of the directors.

The company, Regeneration Developments, had a loss before taxation of €3.1m that year, nearly double their loss in 2007.

However, their operating profit increased from €15,582 to €205,011, and net assets increased from €1.7m to j4.9m by the year end.

In their report, the auditors raised concerns as to whether “continued funding for day-to-day operations can be maintained” and whether the “directors will be successful in obtaining the necessary financing to develop the sites, should the company decide to do so.”

Given these uncertainties, the auditors said they were unable to determine whether or not an extraordinary general meeting should be called.

“The directors are confident that normal operational expenditure can be met from ongoing income. However, interest is being rolled up on bank loans used to purchase the various properties.

“The directors believe this ongoing support will continue, but there is no certainty that this will be the case,” they stated.

Staying with the issue of city centre decline. Here is the current state of play on Patrick Street/Rutland Street. Captured in black & white for added misery! 😉

Photos thanks to Stan the man

@Dan Sullivan wrote:

I’ve heard talk, vague to say the least, about redeveloping Arthur’s Quay and integrating this development with the Opera Centre site. If Mr. Tiernan hasn’t, unlike the other players around town, over extended himself he could develop the Opera centre and move his existing tenants into it and then re-do Arthur’s Quay as prime city centre office space.

I wonder to what degree we could end up with more land/site swaps happening around the city. I think the Parkway for example could take the half completed Liam Carroll site out the Dublin road and level the existing Parkway complex and revamp it as office/residential making much better use of the site with an integrated train station (wishful thinking) and bus link to the Plassey campus.

Interesting point Dan,Arthurs Quay looks over the park and river and so you would imagine that it would make an attractive location for an office and/or apartment development.With regard to the Parkway site , this area needs serious consideration by the council from the point of view of traffic management.For many people travelling into town from the Dublin road this area is a major bottleneck that puts people off going into the city centre.
In Cork they built the Blackpool bypass ( Im sure anyone who travelled into Cork city in the old days remembers crawling along through Blackpool). The final result is a road littered with traffic lights but at least there is a reasonable flow and you are brought driectly into the city centre opposite the Opera house and a choice of 3 multi-story car parks to aim for.Similarly on the south of Cork city they built the south city link road – on the site of the old railway line I believe.This provides quick access to the city centre and a route to the train station. All the above is off topic – but for the Opera centre to be successful and indeed for the rest of the city centre to get an increase in footfall, the city needs to still pander to the lazy approach — hop in your car and get out in a parking lot..multi-story… with free parking! ( How about free parking all day everyday for anyone with 30euro+ receipts from city centre shops… I know , I know…cloud cookoo land.)

Limerick City Council seeks judgment over non-payment of rates at vast Opera Centre site (Limerick Leader)

By Anne Sheridan

LIMERICK City Council is seeking a judgment mortgage in the High Court against the Opera Centre development site over the alleged non-payment of commercial rates.
It is understood that in the region of €350,000 is owed to City Hall by the developers of the vacant shopping centre site in the Patrick Street area.

Rates for the site amount to €350,000 per annum and, it is alleged, have not been paid for two years. Even if commercial properties are not trading, the Council can still apply rates at 50 per cent.

Once described as “Limerick’s shopping mecca”, the project backed by Dublin-based Regeneration Developments has been in the pipeline for five years but councillors have predicted the project is now destined for the National Asset Management Agency.

Councillors said this week that they were “led up the garden path” with the €350 million development which was expected to revitalise the city centre and curb out-of-town shopping.

“It was a development in the heart of the city that promised so much during the boom years and now we’ve been left with nothing,” said Labour councillor Joe Leddin.

Existing businesses vacated the site after being bought out and planning permission was granted twice by An Bord Pleanala.

Cllr Leddin had raised concerns during a meeting this Tuesday about whether the Council is collecting any rates from this site or other “eyesore” developments.

“The Opera Centre is the single biggest derelict site, probably in the country. When are we going to get something in there? We can’t adopt a laissez-faire attitude in the hope that things will turn round. We can’t curl up in a ball and wait for the economic clouds to pass over,” said Cllr Leddin.

Cllr Leddin said he doubted the company was paying anything in rates but officials at the meeting made no response to this.

One spokesperson for City Hall told the Leader that ratepayers have a right to confidentiality over their affairs but the Council generally seeksto havejudgment mortgages registered against premises if rates aren’t paid.

A special meeting in committee – where the public and media are prevented from attending – has been called to examine all the vacant commercial sites in the city and determine if tenants can be found while developers’financial affairs are being teased out at a national level.

Two years ago, councillors had complained that over €500,000 in rates would be lost by the Council over the course of three years if dozens of retail units on Bank Place, Rutland Street, Patrick Street and Ellen Street were left vacant.

But at that time a spokesperson for the company reassured the Limerick Leaderthat once the retail centre was fully operational, the City Council would regain this loss of rates within one year of business.

“Once the Opera Centre is open, the City Council will receive at least five times more than what they’re receiving now – it will be in the region of €1 million per year. This development is going to generate lots of income and lots of footfall in the city – it’s all positive,” said a spokesperson.

Cllr Leddin urged the Council to be more proactive in attracting tenants for the mounting numbers of vacant buildings in the city. “We need to have plans for the sites, even if the finance isn’t there,” he said.

Independent councillor Pat Kennedy said he was “very doubtful about the grandiose notions” for that site.

“We were led up the garden path to be honest about it. After several years the whole situation is an absolute disgrace,” said Cllr Kennedy.
Addressing these issues, city manager Tom Mackey said it was previously the case that “the Council had the sites and developers had the finance”.

“Now most developers are finding it very difficult to get finance and come to us,” said Mr Mackey, adding that “national issues are impacting on us”.

The company behind the development have invested at least €92 million to date on the project and owe creditors €117 million.

It had been reported that Anglo Irish Bank had a 50 per cent share in the development. Just three directors now remain on the board of the company – David Courtney, 49, Rathmines; Jerry O’Reilly, 64, Ranelagh and Terence Sweeney, 28, Dublin 2.

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I think that a huge shopping centre like the Opera Centre is the wrong fit for Limerick. The city has so many dead streets with great potential. While the shops in the centre would certainly draw people into the city, only a small part of the city would be rejuvinated.
If a scheme like the proposed Arthurs Quay redevelopment (not that design though, see below) or the Liverpool 1 development went ahead, the shops that would be hidden in a shopping centre would all have street frontage. Thus the same amount of new stores can transfer a larger part of the city.

[attachment=0:3jmkzsc8]Arthurs Quay.png[/attachment:3jmkzsc8]
Red: Site outline
Black: Traffic
Yellow: Pedestrian only streets, squares, promenades
Purple: Entrance/exit of traffic tunnel.
Green: Public square

The tunnel would allow the area to be largely car free and would also give access to the underground carpark that would span the whole site.
Moving the park would finally give the city a defined centre and the wide prominade along the quays would mean that the riverfront would become a living area of the city again. Playgrounds and the like would encourage families to live in the apartments that would take up a substantial part of the floor area above the ground/first floor retail units. This in turn would bring life back into the city.

I don’t agree that the Opera centre was too big a development – in fact the proposal to refurbish and incorporate neglected Georgian buildings into the scheme was one of its selling points imho…. Sadly we are unlikely ever to see this development proceed. The only bright light I can see is once the amalgamation of the 2 councils happens there may be more money to spend on the city… maybe.. There has been some good work done on the 2 strands and Thomas st/Bedford row.. Jury is still out on Sarsfield st/William st.. I think there should be a scheme to help finance the refurbishment of existing buildings on these streets also..

I don’t agree that Arthur’s Quay Park is a dead Park. I go through there quite a lot and it’s well used.

There is a big problem in that the road acts as a major barrier to it. The tunnel solution is interesting, but no doubt very, very costly.

Your proposed re-location of the park is a good idea, but if there is to be building on the site of the existing park there should be a wide promenade for walkers to walk along by the river.

Given that it’s very unlikely that anything will happen in this area for a while, perhaps pressure should be brought to bear on the owners of the various disused buildings to do something with them. The old Dunnes Stores is particularly ghastly.

The knocking of Sarsfield House would be very welcome. If only it was riddled with asbestos, there might be some hope of that.

@zulutango wrote:

I don’t agree that Arthur’s Quay Park is a dead Park. I go through there quite a lot and it’s well used.

Ok maybe I’m exaggerating but I don’t think it’s as busy as it should be as the most central public space in the city. I put it down to its location and the fact that it seems to be more concrete than grass.

@zulutango wrote:

There is a big problem in that the road acts as a major barrier to it. The tunnel solution is interesting, but no doubt very, very costly.

The tunnel would be just below the existing road level and would be more of a road through a big basement carpark than a stand alone structure. Basements are standard procedure in new commercial builds so it wouldn’t be terribly expensive.

@zulutango wrote:

Given that it’s very unlikely that anything will happen in this area for a while, perhaps pressure should be brought to bear on the owners of the various disused buildings to do something with them. The old Dunnes Stores is particularly ghastly.

Of course it should be brought to bear but the chances of that happening are slim to none. Just look at Liddy St. as your guide.

@Goofy wrote:

The council has already looked into this idea back in 2008. Look at page 54 of this pdf http://limerickcity.ie/Publications/Thefile,8018,en.pdf

Ya my suggestion is a modification of that proposal. I dont think the little square they propose at the O’Connell St. junction is big enough to justify building on Arthurs Quay. Also the orbital route would cut through it, making the riverside area less attractive (in the sense of attracting people across a busy street, as opposed to how it looks), hence the tunnel.

By Alan Owens
Published on Friday 19 August 2011 13:30

A FIRE at the site of the proposed Opera Centre has sparked further concerns over the continuing dereliction of the area.

THREE units of Limerick Fire Service and local gardai attended the scene of the fire at a derelict building on Rutland Street. The building forms part of the stalled ‘Opera Centre’ development and is located next to the Trinity Rooms nightclub, which has remained closed since July as a result of problems associated with the neighbouring site, which has lain dormant for several years.

Gardai from Henry Street also attended the scene, but told the Limerick Leader that they were not aware of any suspicious behaviour or reports of anti-social behaviour at the scene.

A source close to Trinity Rooms management told the Leader that the fire “just highlights the overall problem that is there, and the dangers that exist on all sides”.

“It is an ongoing problem and it is nearly a year since the disrepair those buildings are in was highlighted and that we could have a situation similar to Cork where they collapsed.” They added that the nightclub would remain closed indefinitely for “health and safety and legal reasons and duty of care to customers and staff”, while the issues with the Opera Centre remained unresolved.

While moves are taking place behind the scenes to encourage some kind of development in the site, traders and business owners in the area around the Opera Centre are growing increasingly nervous as to the derelict nature of the site.

The site has been in limbo for some four years since it was first mooted as a flagship development for the city centre, encompassing more than 40 individual properties, which have now largely all fallen into disrepair.

Yes but you just know that a tunnel isnt going to be built under the park.. as good an idea it might be, the funding just isnt there to build it.. I think some form of pedestrian priority system in front of Arthurs quay would make the park more accessible without costing millions..