Limerick improvement projects

kilburn

zulutango wrote:

An excellent transport link with the city centre would do a lot for the people of Castletroy.

We know you keep telling us, out of curiousity have you ever considered campaiging for this if you are so passionate about it?

Vanquished

kilburn wrote: »

We know you keep telling us, out of curiousity have you ever considered campaiging for this if you are so passionate about it?

We shouldn't have to campaign for such basic fundamental services and infrastructure. A competent local authority or transport body would recognise the requirement for such a facility and have it implemented.

Unfortunately Limerick Council are more interested in image, optics and patting themselves on the back rather than delivering real tangible projects to improve the city.

kilburn

Totally agree with you but unfortunately we don't have competent authorities supporting the region so the public need to speak up

damowill

They were 100% correct to refuse the town centre proposals. Anyone that signs the petition is ill-informed. That land/site would be better suited to building new houses and apartments...

brighterdays

The bridge is a great idea. Another bridge is badly needed to get from Clancy Strand to town. It would definitely help footfall into the city. And also be useful for things like Riverfest, to join King John's + the Curragower for matches, etc.

mart 23 wrote: »

Would the Homebase site be a suitable size for an M&S store .?

No, I don't think so. It's too much like a warehouse. The cost to make it an M&S would be way too drastic I'd imagine, plus the area isn't special. I could see it being an Ikea.

I'd absolutely love an Aldi in the city centre. Now that would be almost more welcome than M&S, tbh. Sadly, there's nowhere I could think that an Aldi would suit. Limerick's Georgian architecture is a double edged sword.

M&S would be better suited to the old Dunnes unit overlooking the Shannon, but that'll never happen as the Dunne family are greedy hoarders of Limerick property they don't plan on using. There's no other unit in the city that would suit an M&S. The only hope is the Opera centre in 2090.

If there's one thing Limerick council must never do, it's give a company that many prime units again. It's insane to think how many units Dunnes can claim in Limerick and let to waste. Imagine they packed up Jetland, or Limerick One too?

Poxyshamrock

The Homebase Unit is waaay to small to small for an IKEA and it would never be allowed for traffic reasons.

Cookiemunster

brighterdays wrote: »

If there's one thing Limerick council must never do, it's give a company that many prime units again. It's insane to think how many units Dunnes can claim in Limerick and let to waste. Imagine they packed up Jetland, or Limerick One too?

There is no way any council can stop any private investor from purchasing private property. Dunnes only actually own two units in the city center though. Sarsfield St and O'Connell St. AFAIK they're only a tenant in Harveys Quay. The council have put the Sarsfield St store on the derelict sites register. Dunnes are appealing this, but are unlikely to win. They do own the whole of the Jetland and their unit in the Parkway, but they're only a tenant in Childers Road.

Mc Love

Debenhams are closing 50 stores. If they did close the Limerick store, M&S could easily slot in there.

johnmolloy554

brighterdays wrote: »

If there's one thing Limerick council must never do, it's give a company that many prime units again. It's insane to think how many units Dunnes can claim in Limerick and let to waste. Imagine they packed up Jetland, or Limerick One too?

This is Limerick, not North Korea! Limerick Council does not "give out units".

Poxyshamrock

Mc Love wrote: »

Debenhams are closing 50 stores. If they did close the Limerick store, M&S could easily slot in there.

I’d be surprised if they didn’t close it down. It’s clearly costing them money and it hasn’t been done up since Roche’s had it.

The only thing that might save it is that Debenhams Ireland is a separate company to the main one.

Cookiemunster

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I’d be surprised if they didn’t close it down. It’s clearly costing them money and it hasn’t been done up since Roche’s had it.

The only thing that might save it is that Debenhams Ireland is a separate company to the main one.

Don't the Roches family still own the building? Debenhams are only leasing it IIRC.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote:

The council have put the Sarsfield St store on the derelict sites register. Dunnes are appealing this, but are unlikely to win.

It's the Vacant Sites Register. Different kettle of fish altogether.

Poxyshamrock

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Don't the Roches family still own the building? Debenhams are only leasing it IIRC.

Yeah, they still own it.

mdmix

damowill wrote: »

That land/site would be better suited to building new houses and apartments...

I think the proposal was to build a second story and underground carpark rather than build out. while i do fundamentally disagree with any extension as the area is not equipt to deal with the additional traffic, the councils sole refusal being it would damage the city center is just wrong.

a lot of people have been rightly wound up as the council do not have any strategy or plan to improve the city center (beyond building offices). at the current rate of progress in the city center, we could see a new shopping mall in clare along the NDR before we see any retail revival of limerick city

nim1bdeh38l2cw

Mc Love wrote: »

Debenhams are closing 50 stores. If they did close the Limerick store, M&S could easily slot in there.

Where would we put the Monorail station?

Mc Love

Bexley Petite Scum wrote: »

Where would we put the Monorail station?

Its been done to death, but I hear they are awfully loud

mart 23

Edwards Life Sciences have a 10 year planning application with the LCCC for a factory and offices close to 18ksqm in size at Plassey They have proposed to ceate 600 jobs .

lisasimpson

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I’d be surprised if they didn’t close it down. It’s clearly costing them money and it hasn’t been done up since Roche’s had it.

The only thing that might save it is that Debenhams Ireland is a separate company to the main one.

I wouldnt be surprised either. Its an awful store that badly needs an upgrade. The choice in it compared their other stores around the country is v poor

ongarboy

Apparently the Irish Debenhams stores are better performing than the UK ones, so they may escape the cull. I agree, the Limerick one still looks like it's stuck in the 80s, dated and cramped.

On M&S, they are located in a retail park in Killarney, after being refused permission to open in Tralee retail park so the Homebase unit could be a viable consideration for them.

marno21

mart 23 wrote: »

Edwards Life Sciences have a 10 year planning application with the LCCC for a factory and offices close to 18ksqm in size at Plassey They have proposed to ceate 600 jobs .

What's the attraction for all these companies locating here? It's absolutely brutal for access.

Raheen on the other hand is the opposite and has rakes of room.

Mc Love

marno21 wrote: »

What's the attraction for all these companies locating here? It's absolutely brutal for access.

Raheen on the other hand is the opposite and has rakes of room.

Proximity to the University but I agree Castletroy is gridlocked at peak times

mart 23

Mc Love wrote: »

Proximity to the University but I agree Castletroy is gridlocked at peak times

Also have the LNDR coming to the area in the future.

pigtown

mdmix wrote: »

I think the proposal was to build a second story and underground carpark rather than build out.

The proposal was to extend the centre towards the cinema, building another supermarket almost as big as SuperValu, another large 'box retail' unit, 10 smaller units, and a multi-story carpark which would be built on what is now the unused field next to the cinema.

mdmix wrote: »

while i do fundamentally disagree with any extension as the area is not equipt to deal with the additional traffic, the councils sole refusal being it would damage the city center is just wrong.

a lot of people have been rightly wound up as the council do not have any strategy or plan to improve the city center (beyond building offices). at the current rate of progress in the city center, we could see a new shopping mall in clare along the NDR before we see any retail revival of limerick city

The company tried to get around the effective ban on out of town retail development by claiming that the centre wouldn't be targeting the same retailers as the city would be. You need only look at the new shops that have recently opened; RainAfrica which has shops in Kinsale town centre and Cork city centre; and Williot Menswear whose other outlets are in Spanish city centres. Also Flanagan's Barbers closed its Catherine St. unit and relocated to Castletroy. All evidence points to the owners having no problem targeting what should be city centre retailers.

They also argue that the small unit sizes wouldn't be attractive to major retailers. Meanwhile Meadows & Byrne occupy what was three separate small, unattractive units.

Even if this extension was warrented its design would be a total missed opportunity for Castletroy. The area badly needs a more urban heart so if an extension must go ahead it should be built to the front of the existing, providing a streetscape and moving the carpark to the rear.

Vanquished

pigtown wrote: »

Even if this extension was warrented its design would be a total missed opportunity for Castletroy. The area badly needs a more urban heart so if an extension must go ahead it should be built to the front of the existing, providing a streetscape and moving the carpark to the rear.

That is a very important point. The haphazard nature of development along the Dublin road, particularly from Lidl to The Hurler's has resulted in a very poor quality "street" frontage. Buildings set well back from the footpath with large open surface car parks which are visually dreadful. We can blame Limerick County Council for facilitating such poor quality design but at this stage we need to be encouraging development that addresses the street with active frontages. A large suburb like Castletroy should have a village type hub concentrated around this area. There are certainly opportunity sites to demonstrate how the existing environment can be improved.

zulutango

mart 23 wrote:

Also have the LNDR coming to the area in the future.

Fat chance it'll happen.

keane2097

https://twitter.com/NiallCollinsTD/status/1055727694170779648

kilburn

Delighted An Taisce lost this challenge

Cookiemunster

kilburn wrote: »

Delighted An Taisce lost this challenge

They've lost challenges to this, the Bishops Quay development, the Savoy expansion and the LIT facility at Coonagh Cross recently. I do wonder what they do other than to cost developers and the taxpayer money. They seem to appeal just for the sake of it. It's a pity costs can't be awarded against them for frivolous appeals. (And I don't actually like this building)

keane2097

Cookiemunster wrote: »

They've lost challenges to this, the Bishops Quay development, the Savoy expansion and the LIT facility at Coonagh Cross recently. I do wonder what they do other than to cost developers and the taxpayer money. They seem to appeal just for the sake of it. It's a pity costs can't be awarded against them for frivolous appeals. (And I don't actually like this building)

TBF I would imagine a fair few proposed developments have aspects that many of us would find undesirable. Often times these appeals seem to result in permission being granted but only under certain conditions being met by the developer.

I'm glad there's a gang out there keeping an eye on all this stuff to be honest when you see appalling ****e like that proposed 'apartment block' on Clancy Strand. Ideally the process wouldn't be delayed as long by objections, but that's more a reason to give out about the process than about the objections IMO.

mart 23

ABP have refused permission to Lidl to build a larger replacement store in Castletroy .