well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?
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Badly phrased, I admit. I am happy to state that I did not witness any murders in Limerick (other violent and criminal incidents, yes, murders, no) . The awkward nature of the way I expressed myself should not, however, take away from the actual facts of the matter. Not wishing to prolong the discussion on Limerick/Galway, if people truly want to settle the issue without recourse to the press or subjective public opinion, then let them consult the CSO statistics for violent crime in Irish urban centres. Stereotypes may be disagreeable but they do not come from the wind.
PdLL, Stop digging!…
This thread is for Architecture and news in limerick not, ranting, not your personal issues with Limerick.
I will just highlight something you said you were not trying to have a comparative analysis of your opinions of Galway/Limerick 😮
“U did exactly thatâ€, very hypercritical I think, You obviously have issues with Limerick, or that’s how you come across on this thread, :confused: I can’t believe you brought this up knowing the consequences, please don’t say you were unaware of this, as Deja vous doesn’t happen for no reason :rolleyes:
Limerick is just a city like most Irish urban centres faults and all, so please keep this c””p of yours to yourself.
It would be appreciated.
:rolleyes:I don’t usually write messages in this forum, but just for the people who don’t know, Ireland has five cities Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. Different countries have a different population quota to be recognised as a city. In the UK, there are over 100 cities, even though their quota is higher the ours, the country is alot more urbanised then us. But, in Australia, the population needed to retain city status is only 15,000. If that was the case here, every back wash of a villiage would be looking for city status, which I am totally against because places like Sligo, Killarney or Clonmel don’t have the proper services of a city like Dublin, Cork or Limerick.
I thought that the Republic of Ireland had 6 cities in total. Kilkenny is also a city and therefore should be included in the count. 🙂
Gosh, Irish provinciality is rampant on the city issue. For the record, a city has a city charter. That’s it. Used to have to have a cathedral too, so Armagh is a city I believe. Services have nothing to do with it – places like Clonmel and Kilarney may not have the services of mighty towns like Limerick, but Limerick is not New York nor London nor Los Angeles and has no comparable services.
If we stick to size then nothing but Cork(barely) and Dublin can be considered cities. London has a population of 10 million or so. it is patently ridiculous to describe towns of 15,000 as back wash villages while accepting the claims of Limerick at about 80,000.
in that case you are accepting that an urban centre can be a city at 0.8% of London’s population but not at .15%; which is absurd.
So cities are chartered as cities. And that’s it. Kilkenny is as valid a city as Limerick.
There are no prizes to be won here folks. Cities in America can have 2,000 people and less, it is just another type of urban incorporation.
the Shannon rail link- is exciting news!
Thats great for the whole hinterland and not just Limerick!
the reopened Line from Ennis to Limerick , is a wonderful success. (worth mentioning)
Well ,
i just heard that there are opening the Corbally road link, that will link Grove island , mill road to Dublin road and cross near the canal. It will open within the next few weeks 🙂 A great releif at that side of the city. 🙂Shane where did you get the images of the Pedstrianisation of the city centre ,could’nt get them online :confused: 🙂
great details plans!When will O’Connell street improvement start? In my mind the plan won’t start until through traffic is removed by the New Shannon tunnell (which is to start next year)
heres a pic of the Punches cross dev. quite a deep whole ! looks like another big hotel
More good news
Canal restoration set to flow
THE eagerly awaited restoration of the Park Canal has taken a very positive step forward this week. It is being planned that the canal, which with five other European cities has been awarded funding for upgrading purposes, will also see the restoration of boating and fishing activity as well as the enhancement of its banks with leisure facilities.
First of all it has to undergo a dredging process and tenders for the process have now been secured by Limerick City Council.
The dredging process is essential in order to restore navigability and equally important is the establishment of new lock gates, one at Park Bridge and another to replace an old, disused gate at the Guinness Store. Lock gates will prevent the canal water becoming stagnant.
The mile-long Park Canal connects the Abbey River and the Shannon and the planned restoration will bring the picturesque riverway into a city context while the Shannon end will retain a rural feel. A cycleway will run from the city to the University of Limerick .
Looking forward to work commencing without delay, Cllr Kieran O’Hanlon in whose Ward the city section of the canal is, said that the Council is hoping to finalise the tendering process this week. He expressed some concern, however, that all of the tenders received are quoting a price above the 1.25million euro received by the Council for the project.
Confirming that Waterways Ireland has committed to putting in a new lock gate, the councillor stressed how vital it is that work commences as quickly as possible.
“The 1.25 million euro secured from Europe must be spent on restoration work before the end of this year, otherwise we lose the funding which would then go to another city,†he said.
Further plans for the canal include a complete restoration of the old Guinness Store, transforming the bank into an attractive walkway with top-level lighting, seating and fishing areas, landscaping as well as fishing and boating activity to include a river bus out to the University of Limerick.
The project is being spearheaded by Limerick City Council in co-operation with Shannon Development.
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Dave whats the source of your information on the Shannon rail link?
asdasd, Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never heard of Kilkenny being called a city. And new cities are created almost every year in the UK, if they don’t have a charter, it’s simple, the Queen gives a new city it’s charter, just becasue the charter isn’t hundreds of years old doesn’t mean that it is invalid (e.g. Wolverhampton). Also, I think going by cathedrals is too old fashioned for todays society, Cloyne, a villiage with less then a 1000 people has a cathedral but I wouldn’t call it a city. Anyway, getting away from that, has the Shannon rail link been given the go-ahead or is it in planning stages? It ‘s such exciting news, and it will beat Dublin to the punch of having a airport-city rail link.
pdll are you still talking?, it would have been wise to shut up a long time ago and stop making a tool of yourself, its hard enough to take you seriously as it is without some more blinkered and partisan comments, as shane said why dont you go away and set up an “i love galway” thread, Also i never once mentioned issues of urban planning in limerick in my last post, maybe you should start a thread about that, anything would be better than the drivel you’re spouting at the moment, i just hate it when someone who’s quite obviously ignorant and uninformed comes on and tells some blatant lies, you have zero credibility pdll, if you cant stick the heat then get out of the kitchen!
Anyway on more important topics great to see some movement on the park canal and the rail link to the airport, 2 really important projects for the city, a rail link to shannon surely makes sense as the distance involved is quite small and with passenger numbers growing all the time there is sure to be a steady demand for it, its also a nice alternative to road travel, especially with no plans to improve the section from clonmacken to bunratty, its a pretty unsafe and substandard section with median breaks and residential accesses, grade seperation is badly needed on this stretch,id say its pretty far down the priority list though, and yes it would be great to beat dublin to an airport link.
Unfortunately dave i think we will have to wait until the southern ring is completed to see work on o connell st start, again down to government mismanagement, i lad to laugh today when i was looking through some old news, the predicted completion date for the 2nd section was EARLY 2006, a little bit optimistic at this stage i think, although if they started tomorrow you’d never know, although placing a toll on it defeats the whole purpose of the project especially so close to the city , i think we’ll continue to see hgvs in the city centre for a long time yet! 😡 .The o connell street project is really urgent as the street really deserves better, it would give it some space to breathe and revitalise itself!
A for the city debate i suppose really there is only four real cities in Ireland, its actually hard to find another country with such an imbalance in population between cities, dublin is way out on its own, id imagine the poulation of the greater city area in Cork is around 170, 180 000, Limerick is around 100,000 and Galway 80,000 or so, waterford then has only around half the population of limerick, kilkenny then is a city in name but in name only, it really dosent feel like a city when you walk around it, it dosent really have the variety of shops and services you’d expect from a city, there dosent seem to be any big centre of employment and the big giveaway is it dosent have any third level colleges, still i must say i like the layout of its streets and the old world charm it has!..
Tuburg and Dave123, of course I am still talking. Opinions and debate are what make life interesting – we should strive to entertain both and not castigate those that we do not necessarily agree with.
What originally interested me in this thread was the definition of a city and the sense of urbanism which makes some towns/cities distinct from others.
A number of contributors originally suggested that the presence of wide-streets and the construction of high rise buildings in Limerick added to the sense of urbanism which Limerick apparently enjoys over other medium sized towns in the Republic. This appears to be an approach that defines a city and its ‘urban feel’ (for the want of a better expression) according to building height and street width rather than according to the size of its population. While the presence of high buildings generally denotes a reaonable population density and a certain degree of economic stability, it cannot be seen as being the defining characteristic of a city or of a sense of urbanism. To suggest that would imply that an urban area with a significantly higher population but with narrower streets and lower buildings is somehow less of a city and more of a town. That is not logical.
Obviously it is, in the post-medieval world, largely irrelevant to consider things like city charters and the presence of a cathedral in defining the modern city. That is why I have not considered such issues (otherwise,, for example, as SLigo has both a Catholic and a Protestant Cathedral it could probably proclaim itself to be a metropolis and not even a city). In that context, surely there is a need to define what is a city in a more empirical way (ie by population levels) and not by a subjective and rather arbitrary sense of an urban feeling which was the original criteria used to distinuish Limerick (as a city) from Galway (as a town). In my orginal posting I argued that both were, by international standards, medium sized towns – with reasonably comparable population levels, I stand by this. Putting issues of national and provincial pride aside, most people would accept that Limerick and Galway are both diminutive by international standards and if they don’t believe this they should listen to the remarks of tourists when they read about Galway as ‘Ireland’s third largest city (pop. 60,000)’ in their touist books. It would be interesting if the EU established a set of population guidelines which set standards for defining cities and towns across Europe – where would Limerick and Galway fit in then?
Obviously it is, in the post-medieval world, largely irrelevant to consider things like city charters and the presence of a cathedral in defining the modern city.
no it is not. The world is full of tiny cities that have city charters. the republic has 6 cities including Kilkenny, and who knows, we may create more in the future.
Here’s a small america city and capital
http://www.carson-city.nv.us/aboutcarson/demographics.htm
population 52,000.
Here is a small Irish one
population 24,000
( there are smaller cities than carson but I can only google so much)
Now get over it. Being a city means nothing in terms of size, or buildings. It is a legal definition. You need a city charter, and cities have Lord Mayors, not Mayors. So back to pictures of Limerick. I was enjoying this thread as I dont get to Limerick much.
Here’s a bit on the LImerick PLUTS (Planning Land Use and Transportation Strategy) – from the Limerick Leader 22/12/01
Expansion in city and towns strong
By DEARBHLA LOOBYSMALLER family sizes in the mid-west region mean that the number of households will grow by about 50 per cent by 2026.
This is one of the forecasts in the Limerick Planning, Land Use and Transportation Study presented to Limerick City Council by Malcolm Buchanan of Colin Buchanan and Partners, consultants at this week’s meeting.
The report covers the city and a radius of abut 25 miles, including Newcastle West, Kilmallock, Foynes, Nenagh and Ennis.
The study deals with the period from 1996 to 2026, and predicts also that the total population in the area will grow by between 47,000 and 58,000, to approximately 260,000 in the next 20 years.
The present populations (incuding suburbs) of the larger centres are: Limerick 83,000; Ennis 18,000; Shannon 8,000; Nenagh 6,000; Newcastle West 4,000. These are all growing strongly, but some smaller villages are still declining.
The report also estimates that the labour force will grow by 42 to 48 per cent.
It pointed out that there are currently nearly 1,400 hectares of land zoned for residential development in the region.
“This could accommodate over 30,000 new homes, which means that 90 per cent of the estimated increase in housing demand could be accommodated on existing residentially zoned land,” Mr Buchanan said.
He said it was the consultants view that this land should be used for residential development. “It should as far as possible be focused within transport corridors. Good residential layouts with access for through bus services which can link the new settlements to shops, workplaces, schools, etc are in our view more important than exceptionally high densities in making the new developments sustainable.”
The study found that the road network in the region has many weaknesses.
“There are significant delays through town centres, especially Limerick. Roads are of poor quality, particularly away from the primary route network, and poor connections to some areas such as Foynes. There is poor maintenance of the roads and high accident rate. Many of these problems will tend to get worse as traffic increases,” Mr Buchanan said.
He pointed out that a programme of road scheme for the area has already been assembled by the NRA, the three county councils, Limerick Corporation and their consultants.
“This study, PLUTS, has therefore concentrated on looking beyond the construction of these committed and planned schemes, and has identified nearly 30 links in the road network where more capacity is needed by 2026. Within Limerick itself, further road widening or construction has to be considered in the light of the needs of the environment, pedestrians, cyclists, busses and freight deliveries. The opportunity exists to exploit the capacity released on the city centre network as a result of the Southern Ring Road and fourth river crossing,” he commented.
He expressed concern that this released capacity could easily be eroded by the proposed crossing tolls, which could divert traffic back into the city centre. “We suggest that a city centre traffic management scheme could prevent this from occurring and also prevent toll revenue being eroded.”
City manager Brendan Keating said a final presentation on the consultation findings in the study would be made in February.
“The findings to date stem from detailed study and a consultation process. The study has been on display for some time and has attracted considerable interest. Views expressed by a number of people have been incorporated in the report,” he said.
Knew I saw it mentioned somewhere before – got a 3/4 page mention in the current city development plan – google searches yielded various bits of it. Here’s a link to one part –
As for news on the Shannon rail link, the original article came from here –
http://www.railnews.co.uk/displaynews.asp?ID=892There was another article, which seems to have disappeared off the interweb for now. I think it was put out by Beauxwalk Properties, who were responsible for redeveloping Shannon town centre – It gave fairly detailed info on how the link could be brought about; including proposals for stations at Park (canal)/ Corbally, Longpavement/ City North, Cratloe, Sixmilebridge, Shannon (2/3 stops), Clarecastle and Ennis – as far as I remember.
http://www.westontrack.com/news36.htm
West=On=Track – News
Firm would invest euro16m in airport rail link
The Irish Times (9th October 2003)
by Gordon DeeganPlans to provide a commuter railway railway to Shannon airport yesterday secured a major breakthrough when a private company Beaux Walk Properties, said it was prepared to invest eurol6 million in the project. A report published yesterday by the Shannon Railway Company on the project concludes that the euro60 million commuter rail link between Shannon, Limerick and Ennis “is a viable commercial entity” through a public-private partnership.
The proposal envisages a regular seven-day service between the three centres using the existing rail line between Limerick and Ennis together with a new six-mile spur to be constructed to Shannon Town Centre, Shannon Free Zone and Shannon Airport. The proposed schedule anticipates a train service to and from Shannon Airport every 20 minutes to Limerick and Ennis. The Shannon Railway Company is a consortium of investors led by Beaux Walk Properties, which is currently constructing a 150 million redevelopment of Shannon Town Centre,
Yesterday , its managing director, Mr Barry Boland, said the proposed commuter rail link envisaged attracting 20 per cent of the estimated 230,000 weekly commuter car trips to use the new services. The report says there is a potential demand for 2.3 million passengers a year for the service in an area which has the highest single concentration of industrial employment outside the Dublin area. “Our assessment is that the service will generate sufficient profits within five years to render the project a viable commercial enterprise without any ongoing Government subvention,” he said.
Mr. Boland said Shannon Rail Company was prepared to invest 37 million, provided the Government gives a tax break equivalent to the balance of euro23.5million. The funding proposal involves the euro23.5 million from the Government, investors’ equity of euro26.5 million and bank borrowings of euro10 million. The Government is also being asked to provide euro4 million per annum for the first five years of the project.
The report says the costs of constructing the new six-mile spur to Shannon off the existing Limerick-Ennis line, along with upgrading parts of the current line, will come to euro41.8 million. Clare County Council in its recently adopted South-East Clare Economic Plan has prohibited development taking place within the corridor of the proposed rail link. Mr Boland said: “The proposed link is consistent with Government regional policy and will have a major impact on the development potential for the Limerick-Shannon gateway.” To move the project forward, Mr. Boland said the promoters were prepared to undertake detailed technical, financial and market research study at a cost of euro500,000. The company had sent a copy of the report to the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, and had asked the Department of Transport for a euro200,000 grant towards the cost of an agreed feasibility study.
Thanks for that Shane, as I’m sure you are aware West on Track have been ecplised by the McCann Report of May 2005 which found that the Western Rail Corridor is completely unviable North of Tuam. This is I imagine due in no small part to the absolute shambles that passes for planning in Mayo and the low population base in Southern Sligo.
I totally support the Shannon Rail Link but despite its low cost and a significant financial contribution being on offer from Beaux Walk Properties nothing seems to be happening.
The only issue I take with the rail news article is that it only mentions Limerick & Ennis as being the beneficiaries of a Shannon Rail link, it would also be of Significant benefit to Galway which unlike Limerick has no real airport.
The Park Canal project sounds fairly interesting. It’s a really nice walk out to UL from town especially where the canal rejoins the Shannon at Rhebogue? it’s complete wilderness, with not a buildng in sight – one of a number of great but overlooked wildlife corridors into the city along with the marshes in Corbally and around Barringtons Pier/ Northern Approach Road, so fingers crossed a decent job gets done. The last part of the plan doesn’t exactly inspire confidence though,”Phase 2 of the project cannot be fully defined at this time as it would involve substantial inputs from the private sector as development schemes are brought forward. ” especially given the fact that new housing estates can already be seen along the Dublin Road.
The info on the pedestrianisation project came from a leaflet got from The Limerick co-ordination office on O’Connell St. about a year ago. No start date was mentioned, but it seems the opening of the Shannon Tunnel in 2009, is the most likely date.
It does seem odd that a priavate company is waiting to finance this project for something like 5% the cost of a disjoined luas system and still little action from the powers that be!
Forgive me if I indulge in a little rant but perhaps the visionaries at the department of the environment and local government will remove the word planning from any communication with the outside world and replace it with reactionary. I think the pace of change in ireland at the moment is such that, many government reports etc (despite their best intentions or other wise) become outdated/ overlooked before they’re published. Would it not be a better idea that perhaps given the problems getting infrastructure built in this country that some respectable member of the community up west could rally the locals and build the railway themselves from Derry to Limerick. I’d hazard a guess and say that Knock airport didn’t go hundreds of millions over budget!
Here’s an article i came accross in a recent edition of the LIMERICK POSTal
In a surprise announcement from an unnamed minister at an unnamed department it is expected that the 50000 new houses envisaged for the mid west over the next 15 years are to be built in a great big ribbon from Limerick to Galway either side of a new super dooper fandidlytastic highway (dual carriageway in non-local politician parlance) complete with a great new suburban style neighbourhood centre somewhere between Ennis and Gort.
This idea, it was stated, will satisfy everyones perceived need for a big back yard and parking for at least 3 suv’s while at the same time creating a great new mega Atlantic metroplis which could market itself as having the biggest widest bestest main St ( 64m) – eh sorry trendy European /continental style boulevard in the world – ever!!!
The move was broadly welcomed by those people usually prone to welcoming things with other big and important delirious ministers stating that massive gynormous tax breaks would be made available to those wishing to build holiday homes instead of anything really useful/annoying like those houses that need proper infrastructure and other things that smack of effort. Such a move would justify the recent sidelining of Shannon Development’s plans to bring 20000 new jobs and 4 billion in investment to the region, and sure aren’t those feckers in Limerick full of ideas well above their station anyway – the feckers, it was further stated.
Adding further insight to the government’s plans, one defensive official said that he hoped the dublin meedya wouldn’t get hold of the news ’cause they’d only try and use it to link it to violence and make smart comments at Limerick’s expence, he also elaborated by saying that he supported government policy in the region and that anyone who didn’t could feck off up to Dublin/Portlaoise and sure what was the point of having all that overpriced sprawl up there if no one was going to live in it.
Public reaction to the news has so far been apathetic and largely mute as everyone is still stuck in traffic at the bleedin Parkway roundabout. However one shady looking character, spotted near Sarsfield shopping centre offered the following, ” come here i want ya sham” adding “goway outta dat or I’ll stab ya, ya posh la”Just found this in the limerick post today, finally some explanation on that big hole at punches cross, wishfull thinking that its going to be completed by next july id say!
Thursday 28 August 2005
Rocky start but building proceeds
By Marie Hobbins
AN ASSURANCE that work will be completed by July of next year on a hotel and mixed development at Punch’s Cross has come from Tobin Engineers of Galway, the company contracted to remove rock from underneath the site.When the site was closed off and work ceased some weeks ago, no specific reason for the discontinuation of work was given by businessman, Brendan Dunne, who first submitted a planning application for a hotel and apartments on the site in 2001.
Until this week when work resumed, speculation mounted with a range of various reasons being stated for the stoppage
Dispelling a claim that excessive rock underneath the site had shot up the costs, Eamon McPartland of Tobin Engineers, Galway confirmed City Council senior planner, Kieran Reeves’ earlier assurance that the rock breaking process had been finished well ahead of schedule.
Speaking to the Limerick Post on Wednesday Mr McPartland said: “There were two separate contracts, undertaken by Cordell Construction. The first – the enabling contract was for the groundwork and even though we encountered a lot of rock it proved easier to remove then expected with the result that we were able to claw back three weeks from the expected completion date but it was too early for the main contract to proceed and then we had two weeks’ holidays to be taken – this accounted for the site going quiet.â€
Mr McPartland said that another reason for delay in proceeding to the next phase of development was due to “the formation of a consortium over a period of timeâ€.
Despite some modifications now being sought, Mr Reeves told the Limerick Post that “the core of the planning application is not being changed – the basic structure is not changing dramaticallyâ€.
Asked why there are now requests for further fire escapes, Mr Reeves said this is to comply with requirements for a Fire Safety Certificate and he said that the planning department is working its way through conditions attached to the planning permission regarding finishing materials.
He further stated that alterations sought for the hotel “are linked to a housing development planned for Hassetts Field behind the Punch’s Cross developmentâ€.
City councillor for the area, Jim Long, said the local residents are glad to see that work has recommenced on the development.
“It will be good for the area but I have arranged to meet with the planning officials to investigate more fully the planned development of 40 houses in Hassett’s Field,†he said
Also i see that construction has has started on the hotel and retail complex on the childers road beside the limerick enterprise park, it’ll contain around 100 rooms,bar, restaurant and leisure centre, theres also plans for a neighbourhood retail centre on the site. About a year ago there was talk of an urban regeneration masterplan being drawn up for this area, involving a town centre development for the roxboro area along with retail, commercial and residential developments, havent heard anything about it since, does anyone have any info on it, its definately an area that could to with a bit of a facelift, especially as its basically the southern gateway to the city!
Just something on riverpoint(due for completion next month) and also some hints as to further development in the city centre!
Sunday business post
Sky’s the limit for Limerick developer
21 August 2005
The new Riverpoint tower in Limerick, the highest building in the city and the third tallest in the country, does not mark the height of local property developer Michael Daly’s ambition.The accountant, corporate financier and property developer is also planning a €100 million, 100-bedroom four-star hotel and 95 apartments on the site of the old Savoy cinema in the city centre, and a retirement village at the Castletroy Park Hotel outside the city, not far from the University of Limerick.
The Riverpoint building on the river Shannon, which will eventually house 150 apartments, offices, shops, a restaurant, bar, gym and car park, is costing €75 million to develop. Once it is complete, 1,000 people are expected to live and work in the building.
It is one of the largest developments in Limerick and will change the face of the city, finally giving an attractive shape and character to an area that has been one of the oldest eyesores in the locality.
Daly has set up a financial structure behind the property whereby he retains a majority 51 per cent shareholding and splits the remaining shares among seven others. There are different structures in his other developments, but he holds a majority shareholding in each of them.
Anglo Irish Bank is backing not only the Riverpoint venture but all of Daly’s major property projects. Daly and his investors put up about €15 million of their own money in Riverpoint.
The building is close to completion. During the final phase, the building next door, St Munchin’s House, will be demolished and a nine-storey building above a courtyard will be built with 100 apartments and a creche.
The Riverpoint tower itself has a bar and restaurant on the ground and first floors, and 13 storeys of offices above that. Daly said two floors had been taken by a Limerick firm of solicitors, while an accountancy firm had occupied another two floors. Several construction companies have also taken occupancy.
The 15-storey building, at 200 feet, is smaller only than Cork County Hall and Liberty Hall in Dublin. It was designed by architects Burke Kennedy Doyle and built by Sisk, the construction giant that partners Daly on his property projects.
“We are delighted Riverpoint has been received so well,†said Daly. “It is a terrific landmark building for the city. We’re getting on with business now – once we finish one job, we move on to the next – but it is nice to leave something behind that everyone is comfortable with.â€
Daly said his property development business, Fordmount Properties, was behind €375 million worth of projects, making it one of the largest property companies in the midwest. The firm’s shareholders are Daly, Dermot O’Donovan, Thomas Dalton, Adrian Frawley and Michael Sherry.
Daly said the views from Limerick’s tallest building and its 220-space car park were the building’s two major draws for its tenants. “The view of the river is just wonderful,†he said. “You have views everywhere: you can see the Clare hills in the distance. That is what is actually selling it – everyone who has come down to look at it has gone ‘wow’. The view is awesome.â€
Daly said that while there are plenty of car parks in the city, there are very few large car parks for businesses and apartment owners. “The underground car parking has been a huge benefit,†he said.
“Parking has not been readily available in the city. There would be other car parks of that size in the city, but not attached to office and residential.â€
Daly was a former corporate finance partner at Grant Thornton, but left to set up his own boutique house, First Capital Corporate Finance, and concentrate on his property projects.
Despite his level of activity in the property market, he still pays close attention to his corporate finance business, which primarily sets up property funding schemes.
The firm has raised finance for a shopping centre and nursing home in Co Galway, a retail park in Co Longford and a hotel in Co Leitrim.
Fordmount’s planned hotel on the Savoy cinema site will be operated by another hotel owned by Daly and his fellow investors, the Castletroy Park Hotel off the Dublin Road outside Limerick.
Daly hopes the new hotel will be open by next summer and surrounding shops by the end of the year.
Daly and his investors bought the hotel last year from US billionaire philanthropist Chuck Feeney for about €25 million. Fordmount’s retirement village will be located next to the hotel.
According to Daly, Fordmount is assessing other sites in Limerick city centre that he believes could be ripe for development. He said other property developers have focused on building in the suburbs, but he believed the real value was still in city centre locations.
“There is a lot of retail parks being built around the city, but I would like to see the city centre being restored from a retail and commercial perspective,†he said. “Any town needs a vibrant town centre. I hope we haven’t run the risk of maybe going too much on the outskirts. That is one of the reasons why we are looking at other sites in the city centre.â€
Daly has taken an office in Limerick’s highest building, but denied that he was considering taking space on the top floor of the Riverpoint.
“I am going into the eleventh floor [of the offices] – there are two floors above me. I didn’t want to be seen as the king of the castle,†he said, laughing.
“I was tempted, alright, but I quickly dispelled the temptation.â€
i must say tuborg, those articles are very interesting. they are a good read. well done. i find daly’s remarks about him not wanting to be seen as king of the castle funny, lol. i am excited about the riverpoint building. it’s a welcome addition i think. i like it. 🙂
The riverpoint is one of the better buildings done at scale and is well related to its riverside setting due to its simplicity.
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