Limerick improvement projects

pigtown

Two interesting planning notices in today's Post.
A plan to convert the 3 floors above Esquires coffeehouse on Catherine St to residential with a 3bed apartment on each floor.

Request to demolish a warehouse and construct a 5 storey apartment block with two 3bed, two 1bed, and 14 two bedroom apartments. It's says Flag Lane, Sullivan's Lane, and Curry Lane but I don't know where this site is.

johnnyryan89

pigtown wrote: »

Two interesting planning notices in today's Post.
A plan to convert the 3 floors above Esquires coffeehouse on Catherine St to residential with a 3bed apartment on each floor.

Request to demolish a warehouse and construct a 5 storey apartment block with two 3bed, two 1bed, and 14 two bedroom apartments. It's says Flag Lane, Sullivan's Lane, and Curry Lane but I don't know where this site is.

Broad St area, think it's the world of scooter building with the lane way across from Solo Pizza that leads behind the gate bar to United Drug.

Silentcorner

Cookiemunster wrote: »

So the budget for the next three years is to be agreed by the councillors today. It apparently includes:-

€85m for the Opera Center which includes €27m for a new library.
€8.1m for O'Connell St.
€3m for a conference center at an as yet unknown site.
€18.8m of flood defences on Kings Island.
€8.1m on a UL to city center bus corridor.
€33m for the second stage of the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road.

Full details in the Leader.
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/347868/capital-plan-629m-to-be-splashed-on-major-projects-in-limerick-in-draft-budget.html

I wish they would bin the O'Connell St plan...its a non runner.

The entire length of Catherine St is ripe for pedestrianisation, if done right, it would have a small impact on traffic, a huge impact on the city centre.

Vanquished

Silentcorner wrote: »

I wish they would bin the O'Connell St plan...its a non runner.

The entire length of Catherine St is ripe for pedestrianisation, if done right, it would have a small impact on traffic, a huge impact on the city centre.

Well I wouldn't bin the O'Connell Street project. The condition of the street is a major embarrassment to Limerick and needs to be tackled immediately. The plans are poor though.

I agree about Catherine Street. Buckets of potential and even in it's current neglected, unloved state has a certain character. It serves no traffic function and could be re-modelled with minimum fuss. All we're missing is the will and desire from the Council. Even a continuation of the works carried out on the Thomas Street to Roches Street section would work well, with a few tweaks. Wide footpaths, cycle lanes, proper lighting and the elimination of wires and general clutter.

Cookiemunster

pigtown wrote: »

Two interesting planning notices in today's Post.
A plan to convert the 3 floors above Esquires coffeehouse on Catherine St to residential with a 3bed apartment on each floor.

Request to demolish a warehouse and construct a 5 storey apartment block with two 3bed, two 1bed, and 14 two bedroom apartments. It's says Flag Lane, Sullivan's Lane, and Curry Lane but I don't know where this site is.

I see also that the developer of the unfinished building next to Mollys on Ellen St. has applied for a change of use to the ground floor retail units into an 8 bedroom guesthouse. They had already received permission the retail units and for 5 x 4 bedroom and 4 x 6 bedroom duplexes on the upper floors.

marno21

Anyone know what the scope of the UL bus corridor is?

OfTheMarsWongs

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Broad St area, think it's the world of scooter building with the lane way across from Solo Pizza that leads behind the gate bar to United Drug.

There’s a warehouse behind World of Scooters. It faces United Drug.

pigtown

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I see also that the developer of the unfinished building next to Mollys on Ellen St. has applied for a change of use to the ground floor retail units into an 8 bedroom guesthouse. They had already received permission the retail units and for 5 x 4 bedroom and 4 x 6 bedroom duplexes on the upper floors.

Those units would probably have become yet more take-aways so a guesthouse would be an improvement

Cookiemunster

pigtown wrote: »

Those units would probably have become yet more take-aways so a guesthouse would be an improvement

Take aways were actually prohibited in the conditions of the original planning and all tenants for the units would have had to be vetted with the council, so I reckon the guest house is less hassle for the developer.

73hdkgo

Cookiemunster wrote: »

So the budget for the next three years is to be agreed by the councillors today. It apparently includes:-

€85m for the Opera Center which includes €27m for a new library.
€8.1m for O'Connell St.
€3m for a conference center at an as yet unknown site.
€18.8m of flood defences on Kings Island.
€8.1m on a UL to city center bus corridor.
€33m for the second stage of the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road.

Full details in the Leader.
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/347868/capital-plan-629m-to-be-splashed-on-major-projects-in-limerick-in-draft-budget.html

Additional detail is also available here https://www.limerick.ie/council/whats-on/statutory-budget-meeting-limerick-city-and-county-council-1

73hdkgo

zulutango wrote: »

Agreed. However, the initial work doesn't augur well ...

More details are available here http://www.kingsislandfrs.ie/downloads/

Jose Maria

That Video Fly-through looks good

pigtown

It actually looks like a well considered scheme. I'm always concerned about glass panels though, who's going to keep them clean?

Cookiemunster

73hdkgo wrote: »

Additional detail is also available here https://www.limerick.ie/council/whats-on/statutory-budget-meeting-limerick-city-and-county-council-1

Indeed. I notice an allocation of €3.1m (100K in 2019 and 3m in 2020) for a Childers Road/ Ballysimon Road bus lane which is separate to the UL to City Center bus lane.
€700k for Castletroy Urban Greenway.
€500k each for pedestrian and cycling facilities the Grove Island and Raheen roundabouts.
€2.7 for the next stage of Parnell St. from Davis St to Roches St.

O'Connell St looks programmed for a 2020 start with €100K allocated for next year, then €4m for each of 2020 and 2021.

The Opera center is broken down into €3.7m in 2019, €13m in 2020 and €39m in 2021.

There loads more in there. Quite a lot of money being spent on housing (new and purchased) over the next three years too.

Jose Maria

Do the council own the coloured cottages looking onto the river at Verdant Place?

panda100

Jose Maria wrote: »

That Video Fly-through looks good

Looks like the steps/baths at Verdant place are going and there won't be any access from there to the walkway around the island? I run that route all the time, I was really hoping they would develop that whole walkway by the Shannon and swimming area, not close it off.

OfTheMarsWongs

panda100 wrote: »

Looks like the steps/baths at Verdant place are going and there won't be any access from there to the walkway around the island? I run that route all the time, I was really hoping they would develop that whole walkway by the Shannon and swimming area, not close it off.

They’ve done the wall near the steps already. They’ve put in steps to go up and over the wall.

panda100

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

They’ve done the wall near the steps already. They’ve put in steps to go up and over the wall.

Ya I know. Have been down there a good bit. It just looks different on the video so wondering if they are changing it?

OfTheMarsWongs

panda100 wrote: »

Ya I know. Have been down there a good bit. It just looks different on the video so wondering if they are changing it?

Maybe. Could be the current wall was put in place to protect the community centre after the floods a couple of years ago. Seems pretty substantial for a temp measure though.

Vanquished

pigtown wrote: »

It actually looks like a well considered scheme. I'm always concerned about glass panels though, who's going to keep them clean?

We know that they won't be kept clean. Maintenance levels in Ireland are typically atrocious and in a case such as this involving collaboration between state agencies there will be no consensus over who picks up the tab for upkeep works.

I can't see the logic for removing stone blocks from the quay wall and replacing them with glass panels. They are a key part of Limerick's heritage and should be retained.

dave 27

One thing I noticed about the video is they are paying so much for the flood defences to protect the small population of the old 1930's houses there, you'd have thought they would have done the defences for the whole perimeter of the island so they could develop on it in years to come, those houses on Kings island will eventually be knocked and replaced in multiple areas around the city and then you have a whole island very close to town and the medieval quarter that is there to be developed on!

OfTheMarsWongs

dave 27 wrote: »

One thing I noticed about the video is they are paying so much for the flood defences to protect the small population of the old 1930's houses there, you'd have thought they would have done the defences for the whole perimeter of the island so they could develop on it in years to come, those houses on Kings island will eventually be knocked and replaced in multiple areas around the city and then you have a whole island very close to town and the medieval quarter that is there to be developed on!

They have started building new houses down there.

Can’t build between the houses and river (direction of Corbally). It’s a swamp. Like a lake in winter.

damowill

dave 27 wrote: »

One thing I noticed about the video is they are paying so much for the flood defences to protect the small population of the old 1930's houses there, you'd have thought they would have done the defences for the whole perimeter of the island so they could develop on it in years to come, those houses on Kings island will eventually be knocked and replaced in multiple areas around the city and then you have a whole island very close to town and the medieval quarter that is there to be developed on!

They should knock the whole place, rehouse those that live there and develop a high standard build of 3,4 and 5 bed housing, along with a playground next to the existing pitches.

damowill

Cookiemunster wrote: »

So the budget for the next three years is to be agreed by the councillors today. It apparently includes:-

€85m for the Opera Center which includes €27m for a new library.
€8.1m for O'Connell St.
€3m for a conference center at an as yet unknown site.
€18.8m of flood defences on Kings Island.
€8.1m on a UL to city center bus corridor.
€33m for the second stage of the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road.

Full details in the Leader.
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/347868/capital-plan-629m-to-be-splashed-on-major-projects-in-limerick-in-draft-budget.html

from the main items in the budget below, i am a little worried as to when these projects will get completed by, or even when the work (labour) will commence. Most of the big spend on a lot of these projects comes in 2021. A lot of work next year should get done for, the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road, Parnell street phase3 and the Mungret College Redevelopment but not much else. Opera centre, O' connel st, Ul - city coridor, etc will be a while yet.

|DESCRIPTION | 2019 Spend | 2020 Spend | 2021 Spend|

---

€56m for the Opera Center | €3,750,000 €13,000,000 €39,000,000
€8.1m for O'Connell St. | €150,000 €4,000,000 €4,000,000
€3m for a conference center | €100,000 €900,000 €2,000,000
€18.8m of flood defences on Kings Island. | €1,200,000 €12,000,000 €5,600,000
€8.1m on a UL to city center bus corridor. | €100,000 €3,000,000 €5,000,000
€33m Phase2 of the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road. | €17,500,000 €14,500,000 €1,800,000
€27m for a new library | €2,000,000 €13,000,000 €12,000,000
€5m Great Southern Greenway Upgrade | €1,200,000 €3,000,000 €800,000
€31.5 Greenways Development | €2,500,000 €12,500,000 €16,500,000
€0.7m Castletroy Urban Greenway | €100,000 €500,000 €100,000
€4m Mungret College Redevelopment | €3,000,000 €661,000 €370,000
€1m Castletroy Link Road | €75,000 €75,000 €850,000
€2,2m World Class Waterfront | €100,000 €100,000 €2,000,000
€2,7m Parnell Street Phase 3 (Davis St Roches St) | €2,500,000 €200,000
€0.5m Pedestrian & Cycle Facilities Grove Island Roundabout | €500,000
€0.5m Pedestrian & Cycle Facilities Raheen Roundabout | €500,000

johnnyryan89

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

They have started building new houses down there.

Can’t build between the houses and river (direction of Corbally). It’s a swamp. Like a lake in winter.

They've rebuilt (some poorly designed) the houses they originally knocked, would have been cheaper to gut the houses and do them up like they did with some houses. Then again there was no money to be gained by those running the show from doing the sensible thing.

corknewyork

I have never been to Limerick City but I was just looking at it on Google Street View and I'm confused as to why William Street isn't exploited more. It's a great street (aide by the fact it was really sunny in the pictures). A lot of great architecture, trees, wide footpaths, straight and long, it should be Limerick's main shopping street. It is so sad seeing such beautiful buildings being occupied by Deals, Paddypower, a big building with ESB and Centra, EuroGiant and a big Superdrug. The council should encourage it to become a high end street, buildings which were split can be re-amalgamated to form big retail buildings and small buildings which look similar to those next to them could be amalgamated. At the moment it is still great but so much potential wasted on brands that could fit in any size building in any part of the city, the better buildings should be reserved for more exclusive and bigger brands

Cookiemunster

damowill wrote: »

from the main items in the budget below, i am a little worried as to when these projects will get completed by, or even when the work (labour) will commence. Most of the big spend on a lot of these projects comes in 2021. A lot of work next year should get done for, the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road, Parnell street phase3 and the Mungret College Redevelopment but not much else. Opera centre, O' connel st, Ul - city coridor, etc will be a while yet.

Well the opera centre and O'Connell St haven't even gone to planning yet so we're never starting next year. It's obvious form the allocation that both are planned to go to construction in 2020 and the Opera centre has always had a 3-4 year build schedule.

chicorytip

damowill wrote:

They should knock the whole place, rehouse those that live there and develop a high standard build of 3,4 and 5 bed housing, along with a playground next to the existing pitches.

...and have the dwellings facing in the direction of the river and the Clare hills side.

kilburn

Believe it or not originally there was a University to be built on the island but the charter was not granted.

How different would Limerick be now if that happened

zulutango

kilburn wrote: »

Believe it or not originally there was a University to be built on the island but the charter was not granted.

How different would Limerick be now if that happened

It was one of five shortlisted sites, I think. Limerick would be very different, that's for sure. I think it's inconceivable that UL would have grown to the same extent though. Castletroy might still be a rural place with a smattering of houses.