Opera Centre seems to be going ahead......

martyc5674 · 27-03-2015 2:47pm #1

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/3300-jobs-on-way-for-limerick-in-massive-city-centre-development-669315.html

moby2101 · 27-03-2015 3:08pm

Great news, hopefully it will be the beginning of an invigorated Limerick for all who love to live and shop here.. badly needed for the local economy and the hinterland

DoYouEvenLift · 28-03-2015 8:38pm

If it's a nightmare to get in and out of in cars like most of Limerick is it'll be a painful failure

Roquentin · 28-03-2015 8:40pm

what are they building exactly?

Berty · 29-03-2015 9:39am

Roquentin wrote: »

what are they building exactly?

Reading the story, revenue offices and student accommodation with only a request of "interest" from interested parties.

DeWinterZero · 29-03-2015 1:30pm

No building plans as yet.

They just announced that their looking for "expressions of interest" from anyone with money whose willing to build on a site in Limerick that comes guaranteed with two government tenants, the Revenue & the Education Dept.

dave 27 · 30-03-2015 11:12am

What I dont understand is why are the revenue comission moving across the road into that site? they want to knock the building theyre in once they move, why cant they stay where they are and reclad and do up the surrounding area of te building, that way your not losing any office space..doesnt make sence to me

Cookiemunster · 30-03-2015 12:42pm

dave 27 wrote: »

What I dont understand is why are the revenue comission moving across the road into that site? they want to knock the building theyre in once they move, why cant they stay where they are and reclad and do up the surrounding area of te building, that way your not losing any office space..doesnt make sence to me

Part of the 2030 plane is to knock Sarsfield House and Arthurs Quay and redevelop the whole area.

Special Circumstances · 30-03-2015 12:50pm

dave 27 wrote: »

What I dont understand is why are the revenue comission moving across the road into that site? they want to knock the building theyre in once they move, why cant they stay where they are and reclad and do up the surrounding area of te building, that way your not losing any office space..doesnt make sence to me

All evidence that the revenue building ever existed must be removed. This includes purging any historical references/photos etc. City hall to follow soon after hopefully.

sleepyman · 31-03-2015 7:03am

This just seems to be a re announcement of the plans.No physical building work until 2017.

Cookiemunster · 31-03-2015 9:16am

sleepyman wrote: »

This just seems to be a re announcement of the plans.No physical building work until 2017.

It's more than that this time. UL have actually announced what they're basing there, they already have the commitment from the Dept of Finance and they're actually officially looking for someone to build it. None of the previous ideas got anywhere near this stage.

zulutango · 31-03-2015 1:30pm

It's all very welcome. The devil will be in the detail, of course.

Wish they'd drop the silly 'Opera' centre name though. I guess that will fade away in time. Disappointing to see both the council and the university using that title though, but I guess it was to generate publicity/PR, which is what the announcement on Friday was all about.

squonk · 31-03-2015 1:41pm

Where does the Opera title come from? I must admit when I read the Breaking News article headline my first impression was that they were going to build an Opera House!

zulutango · 31-03-2015 1:46pm

squonk wrote: »

Where does the Opera title come from? I must admit when I read the Breaking News article headline my first impression was that they were going to build an Opera House!

The developer of the shopping centre monstrosity that was proposed for there in 2007 picked the name as a sop to the cultural heritage of the area. A world famous 19th Century opera singer called Catherine Hayes was born in one of the buildings on Patrick Street.

Special Circumstances · 31-03-2015 1:48pm

The journal.ie comment section was hilarious "rabble rabble homeless all that money on opera" "nobody in limerick will go to opera what a joke" "hope they get some good non opera gigs" "blah blah tax opera hospitals irish water".

Mr.H · 31-03-2015 3:13pm

Well to be fair its a ridiculous name. As someone who studies marketing it is definitely the opposite of what it should be and that's easily identifiable.

If its called the Opera Centre then a lot of people (mostly tourists) will think its an actual opera house. The same way if its called a supermarket I'm not going to expect it to be a homeless shelter.

When it comes to naming its is of the most important

They should have called it the Hayes Centre if they really wanted to honour the lady. Not the 'she had blue eyes centre'.

Ridiculous (/rant over)

On a similar not I was working for a company (doesn't matter who they are) who had a name that was very (lets say) Muslim orientated. Now I have no problem with any religion, in fact I have no time for any of them

but that's beside the point. The problem with this company was it was failing to attract any non-Muslims to the organisation. They couldn't figure it out. It turned out that the name they chose was chosen because it sounded like an Irish word and they thought that was cool. Just because a name might sound cool, it really matters what it is. A name should be the identity of the business.

zulutango · 31-03-2015 3:18pm

The thing about this project is that it is such a mixed use development, that nobody can think of an easy name for it, so they go with the crass developer's one.

Special Circumstances · 31-03-2015 3:18pm

It's gonna bug me all afternoon now to figure out that company name Mr H.

Maybe they thought "Opera Lane" worked so well for Cork, why not Opera Centre? Although I do like the misspelling in the thread title - will think of it as the The Grand Ole Oprea from now on. Maybe they could get Gareth Brooks to open it?

Ah thread title changed.... oh well. No one else liking the idea of a wild west themed shopping centre? Horses tied to posts outside?

martyc5674 · 31-03-2015 9:16pm

I like the name... And I don't think it needs to be named xxx shopping centre or the like to be successful.
But irish wire selling kitchens.. That's taking the mick!
Marty.

Mr.H · 01-04-2015 9:06am

I guess by me rant all I meant was why not just think up of a name that defines what it is rather than trying to be unique. Finding a name is never easy for anything. Be it a company, building or even a child.

How about
Patrick street plaza
Catherine Hayes
The Treaty Centre
The Shannonside village
The Georgian Mall

So many different things that could define it and as a name, could be used as a selling point to big companies so we can give them confidence in what we are actually trying to bring to the city.

Could you imagine being on the Opera Centre's board. Going along to some company like M&S (as we cant stop talking about them here on boards

) and we say "we want you to be our flagship store for Limerick cities Opera centre"....................... Lets just say its not going to be without lots of (pointless) questions regarding the name and lots of explaining.

I like the idea of themed shopping centres. Very 'Westworld' (an amazing movie from the 70's for anyone too young to remember)

As for Garth there is no way he wouldn't open The Treaty Centre

*The company I was referring to working for was a Muslim name for God................ I'm sure you'll be able to guess at it. I don't think they will mind too much even though that is just part of their name

seachto7 · 01-04-2015 11:09am

It was supposed to be called the "Opera Centre"? A developer made up this name? A developer who went bust. So why is it still called the "Opera Centre"?

Berty · 01-04-2015 11:12am

Maybe the council will have a public consultation on the name.

I.e Hire a Marketing Company to ask us a question the council could just ask us themselves. :rolleyes:

The council have previously asked the public for names in naming things, a mystery if they take anything on board or already have names pre destined for things but ask us to make us feel involved.