well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?
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… i know this isnt a solution – but id nearly prefer to see the 1970s flats at the corner of the strand and the Ennis road knocked and the new apartments sited there..
Interesting that the spokesperson for Limerick CC was so anxious to get ‘the Fire Brigade’ (!) to knock the bldg in question; it just demonstrates that the ‘dangerous building’ is the local authority equivalent of the ‘insurance’ fire.
@Griff wrote:
… i know this isnt a solution – but id nearly prefer to see the 1970s flats at the corner of the strand and the Ennis road knocked and the new apartments sited there..
QFT. Love to see that development flattened too!
Imo, there’s definitely something dodgy about the way Limerick CC are rushing to help this development, even going so far as to mention it in their plans for footpaths for the Strand.
Is it simply incompetence or something more sinister?
@Tuborg wrote:
Photos of the Canal and walkway from the city centre to Plassey can be found here
Tuborg, good to see the canal project moving on. (Official start November 2003!) Progress has been very slow to say the least? Probably due to the delays in constructing the Corbally Link Road / bridge. Having said that the stretch of canal between the railway-bridge and Guinness foot-bridge (St.Patrick’s GAA Club) could had been done first.
The recent photos reveal bushes and trees planted on the slopes of the canal which will certainly re-strangle the waterway! Are they serious about using the canal as a waterway for boats or what? I would have preferred to have seen the slopes of the canal kept as grass margins and the planting of trees along the canal kept to outer boundaries instead.
The success of the canal in my opinion will come down to maintenance. The whole stretch of the canal and the O’Brien Park should be integrated into one parkland zone, as the canal would benefit from the same higher maintenance standard that the city parks have always enjoyed. What role will the Waterways of Ireland play here? Maintainence of the locks? The water level appears also to be low.
Images from Buildings of Ireland. Old canal image.
A 25 cent refundable deposit charge on drinking cans, plastic bottles etc, would go a long way in keeping the locks litter-free. An investment in five metre poles with nets to scoop up litter from the locks would also help.
I see that there are also plans for creating a canal basin (marina?). The wetlands to the rear of St Mary’s Secondary School would be an obvious choice. My overall impression from the photos in this link still show the canal in a “raw†regenerated state! 😮 I personally would not be to hurried in inviting back the other EU participants (Water in Historic City Centres) from Chester (GB), Breda and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NL) and Gent and Mechelen (B) to show what we have achieved so far.
Actually, I don’t think it is the intention that the canal will be navigable. At least that is the impression I got from them when I spoke with them a couple of years back. We (An Taisce) organised a walk and talk along the canal with one of the folks involved in the Riverside City project in 2005 and I seem to recall that question coming up.
According to the project PDF and the map below, there are plans for a canal basin with berthing facilities between park bridge and the railway overbridge. The canal does appear to be a good deal wider between park bridge and its entrance to the Shannon so presumably it would be possible to make this section navigable. However there are a number of constraints on the remaining section so its highly unlikely that it will ever be fully navigable as far as the Abbey river.
A large site on the south side of the canal, bisected by the new Corbally link road is likely to come up for redevelopment shortly. Pre-planning discussions have apparently taken place and the plans are for a high density mixed use development. The development of a residential element along the canal could only improve the viability of the project and would hopefully lead to increased use of the amenity.
What is the current status of the Richmond rfc grounds? I know they had some problems over the last couple of years, are they still using the pitch along the canal bank?
I think Richmond’s grounds are still in use. I typically use the other side of the canal for my travels.
I agree about the canal being navigable as far the park bridge (though I’m not sure the dredging was deep enough for it to be possible unless the tide is high). My meaning was that they wouldn’t be able to make it all the way to the Abbey rive as the concrete closure at the bridge wasn’t going to be moved.
I would hope that the development of the large plot on the southside would be canal facing in order to aid passive surveillance . would make it safer for those living there too.
Another hotel?? Surely we have enough already..the hotel offering in Limerick is pretty well covered..Off the top of my head recent additions to the hotel market include..
The Clarion,
Clarion Suites,
Absoltue Hotel
The George Hotel,
The Marriot,
The Hilton,
Punches,
Barrington St (underway)
Park Point..(underway0not to mention the older offerings..the Raddison, Greenhills, Castletroy Park, Pery, South Court etc..
Thats a serious hotel offering for any small city like Limerick. Do the hoteliers know something we don;t?
Luxury hotel for Limerick’s Parkway Centre
By Nick Rabbitts
DEVELOPERS are planning a multi-million Euro facelift of the Parkway Shopping Centre that includes a four-star hotel, 45 apartments, offices and retail stores, according to plans to be lodged with Limerick City Council.
Work on the ageing retail park could begin as early as next year, after Dublin-based developers Lindat announced their intention to lodge an application with Limerick City’s Planning Authority shortly.The redevelopment of the shopping centre includes a new office building and 45 new apartments, alongside a four star hotel, set to accommodate close to 100 people.
And it looks as if a popular pub on the Dublin Road could be bulldozed if Limerick City Council give the go-ahead to the proposal, as the developer’s plans include the demolition of the Park Bar, to make way for more retail space.
Cllr Kieran Walsh, chairman of the Planning Committee who will debate the application, said the bar’s closure is a small price to pay for improving the site.
“It is the nature of change, and some things have to go,” said Cllr Walsh.
Is this science fiction? The Park a popular pub? It is a shadow of its former self compared to the old days. If it is popular now, what was it then? The site is a very poor use of space with most of it single storey. I expect we’ll be getting these plans through the door soon enough. Any chance they might throw a station in there?
This has been on the cards for a good while now although I didnt think an application was this imminent! The Parkway will be no loss in truth, dunnes stores has been the only thing keeping it going these last couple of years, the land its sitting on is worth far more than the business currently being carried out there.
It does seem like madness to be planning another “luxury” hotel with the new park point hotel and the Castletroy park literally a couple of hundred metres down the road. Although theres nothing to stop them scrapping the hotel plans in favour of more apartments later on in the process. Its interesting that the developers are proposing to keep a retail element on this site, especially with the proliferation of retail parks etc already in the area and of course the new pakway valley complex now well underway just across the road.
All the hype surrounding these new developments cant mask the real issue here though! Just how is all the extra traffic going to be accomodated? The area is already a disaster now, whats it going to be like when all these new shopping complexes and apartments are up and running? Unfortunately as per usual these issues will only become a concern to the City planners when its too late, will we ever learn?:(
One solution would be to have one entrance and another exit neither of which you can turn right from. Shove the car parking back behind the street frontage (ok I know it’s a road) and make it mutli storey
I might be way off here, but isn’t it possible this development will actually reduce the number of cars on the road?
A shopping centre, even a low-rise one will accommodate more people than a hotel and apartment complex, unless it’s a truly huge hotel and hundreds of apartments?
There’s still a retail element to the new development so there will still be retail traffic. The completion of the Shannon Tunnel should really be expected to have an impact on traffic here should it not? It should take some fraction of through traffic away?
I also think its not 100% the Parkway area thats the problem, more so what it feeds into. For exampple the Dublin road itself from the Parkway to the junction at the A1 bar really needs work . 2 lanes is just not enough in this part of town and the surface of the road itself at this point is poor. Childers Road is still a disaster and reqaally could take widening past the Retail Park and beyond heading towards Roxboro.
I also feel that the new bridge by the Grove Island development and access to it from the Dublin road really needs to be highlighted better. I know many people(including myself) who still continue into Baalsbrige to get to Corbally/Grove island..mainly out of habit and passing the right turn at that school without even thinking.The Post is reporting that under the new plans, the Parkway roundabout will be removed and replaced with a signalised junction, surely it couldnt regulate traffic any worse than the current free-for-all? They also carry a bit more detail in relation to the plans, although it remains to be seen just how accurate this information is. The report claims that much of the existing centre will be retained with the park bar and burger king being demolished.
vkid definitely has a point about the current road layout. Both the Childers road and the Dublin road heading into town, simply dont have the capacity to deal with the volumes of traffic using them and the poor layout of the junction for the childers road retail park has made matters even worse. There is resonable scope to widen the childers road from the parkway all the way to roxboro providing they’re prepared to replace the railway overbridge at the Kilmallock roundabout. Although why a small city of 100,000 people is so car dependant and choked with traffic is a matter for another day!
New-look for Parkway SC
WITH the threat of serious competition from the under-construction Parkway Valley SC, and a major expansion planned at the Crescent, the 24-year-old Parkway Shopping Centre is poised for a multi-million euro development programme to allow it meet all challengers head-on.Plans include an 89 bedroomed hotel and 45 apartments, as well as multistorey car park and a stairwell and access lifts, from both Childers and Dublin roads.
As reported exclusively in the Limerick Post last week, an extension to the nearby Parkway Retail Park is to have 50 shop units, and a host of other services.
Good news for motorists is that The Parkway Shopping Centre plan also provides for the upgrade, redevelopment and replacement of the dreaded Parkway roundabout junction with a signalised traffic junction.
A planning application to be lodged by Lindat Limited to Limerick City Council, includes the provision of a new extension to provide for additional retail floor space and ancillary service areas, as well as the demolition and relocation of existing drive-through fast food restaurant.
It is also proposed to demolish the existing public house, fronting the Dublin Road, and portion of existing retail and commercial floor space on the northern elevation.
The proposed hotel will have bar, restaurant, conference/meeting facility and roof garden. Provision is made for the construction of new basement level and multi storey car park with access provided directly from Childers Road, a dedicated service access road from Childers Road, the provision of a dedicated egress from the proposed basement level car parking onto the Dublin Road, as well as a dedicated bus lay-by/set down area on the eastern Childers Road boundary.
Interestingly, it is proposed to build a new pedestrian stairwell and access lifts directly into the shopping centre from both Childers road and Dublin roads.
In addition to the hotel and apartments, the planning submission allows for an integrated office space comprising 1,861 M2 .
Meanwhile, across the road and on the site of the former Dillons garage, another developer proposes to build a new retail or office development, on a c1.47 acre site.
Limerick County Council have asked Stapleyside Company Ltd & Derenburg for further information regarding both their applications (0846, 0847) for the crescent shopping centre. This comes as little surprise really considering the pressure Limerick City Council have being exerting on this issue.
I have no doubt that planning will eventually be granted, however it will then be interesting to see if the City Council take the matter further, potentially risking a further deterioration in relations with their friends in the county.
Cant help thinking how much better an M&S would be in the city centre ala Cork and Dublin. Out of town shopping centres like the Crescent – which to be fair is not the worst of them – are ultimately depressing places.. Childers road SC with its funky shaped signage trying to say these buildings arnt really cheap warehouses with absolutley zero architectural merit….
They are opening a full size store in The Opera House.
From The Sunday Business Post:
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/02/24/story30619.aspMarks & Spencer is also understood to have decided to open a larger shop than originally proposed in The Opera Centre in Limerick.
The firm is to open a department store of nearly 8,400 square metres, far larger than the Simply Food store it originally intended to open. The letting is a coup for Jerry O’Reilly, Terry Sweeney and David Courtney, who bought the site for the shopping centre last year. When complete it will have 40,000 square metres of shopping space over two main levels with smaller floors elsewhere.
The openings are part of M&S plans to increase its presence in Ireland by 30 to 40 per cent over the next five years.
It was confirmed last week that the firm would open in the Deerpark shopping centre in Killarney, Co Kerry. It will trade from a unit of 2,000 square metres there, alongside other tenants include New Look, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Argos and Homebase.
Boots is also to open in the centre, trading from a 556 square metre unit. DTZ Sherry FitzGerald is letting the two remaining units.
@Griff wrote:
Cant help thinking how much better an M&S would be in the city centre ala Cork and Dublin. Out of town shopping centres like the Crescent – which to be fair is not the worst of them – are ultimately depressing places.. Childers road SC with its funky shaped signage trying to say these buildings arnt really cheap warehouses with absolutley zero architectural merit….
And has anybody noticed how that horrific false brick cladding on the Childers Road centre has started to fall off? In fact, at the side of Evans/Burton store it has almost entirely come away – disgraceful for a building that isn’t open three years.
@scitilop wrote:
And has anybody noticed how that horrific false brick cladding on the Childers Road centre has started to fall off? In fact, at the side of Evans/Burton store it has almost entirely come away – disgraceful for a building that isn’t open three years.
They didn’t fall down, they were pulled down. “Da side o’ burton’s” is a hang out place for the local teens :p
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