City Square Sold

BBM77

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/us-fund-pays-21m-for-waterford-s-city-square-1.2218404

If this is not a vote of confidence in Waterford I don’t know what is.

O Riain

BBM77 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/us-fund-pays-21m-for-waterford-s-city-square-1.2218404

If this is not a vote of confidence in Waterford I don’t know what is.

That is a fair increase on the amount of retail space. Moving the entrance to the centre sounds good too!

Max Powers

Good news indeed, just hope they get on with that extensions soon, With the works planned for there, Weatherspoons, new paths etc, could be nice lil area

allthedoyles

with 3 entrances at the moment , where is new entrance and which ones are they closing ?

Sorry 4 entrances including car park

Potential-Monke

I'd imagine they're closing the two side entrances and making the main entrance across from the old PTSB. That would make sense to me anyway.

spankmemunkey

Has to be a positive news story for Waterford, no American investment company is going to plunge 21 million into Waterford without due diligence, there must be more good news on the way, maybe another american investor is on the way that they know about, either way this is good news.

Wanderer78

i get a bit worried when i hear of such big foreign investments. i really wish an irish investor could make such a deal but theres probably very few around now. but in saying all that, this must be a good thing for the town. maybe its the return of confidence in the town for investors.

obezyana

Wanderer78 wrote: »

i get a bit worried when i hear of such big foreign investments. i really wish an irish investor could make such a deal but theres probably very few around now. but in saying all that, this must be a good thing for the town. maybe its the return of confidence in the town for investors.

You want NAMA so coz that's where most Irish investors are now

BBM77

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Has to be a positive news story for Waterford, no American investment company is going to plunge 21 million into Waterford without due diligence, there must be more good news on the way, maybe another american investor is on the way that they know about, either way this is good news.

That is a good point. One way or the other they are only going to buy it if they can see good potential for growth in their investment. It all bodes well for the city.

Digital Society

****ing Hallelujah lads. Its been a long time coming. Don't go ruining it by whinging about something like you usually do.

I understand they are adding a new storey over Peter Marks and merging all shops down that end to make a huge unit similar to Debenhams. Doing something similar on the other end with Burger King etc.. and then moving the front door where that restaurant was facing the bank.

wellboytoo

Digital Society wrote: »

****ing Hallelujah lads. Its been a long time coming. Don't go ruining it by whinging about something like you usually do.

I understand they are adding a new storey over Peter Marks and merging all shops down that end to make a huge unit similar to Debenhams. Doing something similar on the other end with Burger King etc.. and then moving the front door where that restaurant was facing the bank.

I'd say Wetherspoons will love that!

Wanderer78

Digital Society wrote: »

Don't go ruining it by whinging about something like you usually do.

feck sake, you're putting me under pressure now to come up with something

iseegirls

Odd about the new entrance into the building, and closing off the main 2. Should be interesting to see any plans of what they are thinking.

TheQuietFella

I don't like the sound of four floors. It will be an eyesore across the city.
These investors don't give a fluich about the appearance or job creation
within Waterford. They'll sell it on when they've made their money with
scant regard of the consequences.

Wanderer78

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I don't like the sound of four floors. It will be an eyesore across the city.
These investors don't give a fluich about the appearance or job creation
within Waterford. They'll sell it on when they've made their money with
scant regard of the consequences.

im actually still very angry over the original development of this site. it could have all been built around the viking site that was found there. it would have been an amazing tourist attraction.

wellboytoo

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I don't like the sound of four floors. It will be an eyesore across the city.
These investors don't give a fluich about the appearance or job creation
within Waterford. They'll sell it on when they've made their money with
scant regard of the consequences.

Wanderer78 wrote: »

im actually still very angry over the original development of this site. it could have all been built around the viking site that was found there. it would have been an amazing tourist attraction.

And they're off.....

fricatus

Wanderer78 wrote: »

im actually still very angry over the original development of this site. it could have all been built around the viking site that was found there. it would have been an amazing tourist attraction.

I think it's a disgrace that a shopping centre was allowed to gobble up two streets from the old city - Peter St and Cooke Lane (which ran sort of where the car park entrance is now). Heritage protection Irish style!

Not a lot can be done about that now, but is Peter St going to disappear now too under this plan? Anyone got a link to further details?

TrustedApple

Classic waterford thread new plans for something good in the city and people from waterford are giving out about it .....

Who cares about lost sts that have basically notting on them ?. i don't and 99% of the people don't care as well.

A new entrance yes its needed make one big entrance will make the shopping centre look better and make new units at the corners where the old entrances are.

4 story shopping centre yes please as long as they get good new shops moving into the place.

I think getting city square done up is a hell of a lot better then that stupid glass roof down at the apple market.

Taxburden carrier

samapple789 wrote: »

I think getting city square done up is a hell of a lot better then that stupid glass roof down at the apple market.

A glass roof will keep the sleeping drunks dry until the City Council workers arrive to clean up their mess at our expense :rolleyes:

The Bowling Alley

Taxburden carrier wrote: »

A glass roof will keep the sleeping drunks dry until the City Council workers arrive to clean up their mess at our expense :rolleyes:

Oh for Christ's Sake

Taxburden carrier

Talking down the economy?

Digital Society

Lads im not being funny but try just think like your not from Waterford for a second and youve never seen city Square.

Now ask yourself is there any need to have two entrances about a 20 second walk from each other leading to the same street?

All this conservation aside do you think it makes sense?

iseegirls

It helps footfall into most stores with those 2 entrances there. Most people would go around the shopping centre in one entrance and out the other - helping all stores throughout. By closing off the other 2 entrances, and creating a main one in the centre (by Sully's I presume) will only help those stores that are nearby it. Shops like Golden Discs, Shake Shack may suffer with less footfall, as some people won't need to go towards certain ends.

BBM77

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I don't like the sound of four floors. It will be an eyesore across the city.
These investors don't give a fluich about the appearance or job creation
within Waterford. They'll sell it on when they've made their money with
scant regard of the consequences.

Could not agree with you less. Just because a building is four storeys does not make it an eyesore. It is maximising the potential of the centre instead of having a bunch of tiny units. There is nothing wrong with a developer buying City Square developing it and selling it on. If the standard of design is not up to starch it is down to the planning authorises for allowing it in the first place. This leads me to my second point.

fricatus wrote: »

I think it's a disgrace that a shopping centre was allowed to gobble up two streets from the old city - Peter St and Cooke Lane (which ran sort of where the car park entrance is now). Heritage protection Irish style!

Not a lot can be done about that now, but is Peter St going to disappear now too under this plan? Anyone got a link to further details?

I don’t have a problem with streets being “gobble up” if it make senses. What I do have a problem with is the way the layout of City Square created dead streets. Lady Lane, Olaf St and High St were all rendered circular/parking/service streets. Cathedral Square has only recently being brought back to life. This did more damage to the old city than gobbling up streets.

Wanderer78

samapple789 wrote: »

Classic waterford thread new plans for something good in the city and people from waterford are giving out about it .....

Who cares about lost sts that have basically notting on them ?. i don't and 99% of the people don't care as well.

A new entrance yes its needed make one big entrance will make the shopping centre look better and make new units at the corners where the old entrances are.

4 story shopping centre yes please as long as they get good new shops moving into the place.

I think getting city square done up is a hell of a lot better then that stupid glass roof down at the apple market.

i find a lot wrong with this.

im not against developments like this just the process in which they are done. im saddened to see how city square has turned out. i have a vision of what it should have been to some degree. it could have been possible to preserve the viking city underneath the building and still build the shopping centre over it. the viking city could have been integrated into the build by having areas of access to it within the building to allow people to check out the viking city underneath. this would have been an amazing tourist attraction and obviously we would still have our modern shopping centre over it. i have visions of things like glass floors within the building and having areas of interest of the viking city light up. unfortunately this will never happen and the viking city has been destroyed forever. we have to stop thinking like this. preserving our heritage is extremely important and yes both modern builds and our heritage past can co exist, even compliment each other. we tend to have a short term gain method of thought about such developments, rather than a long term one. i understand the ideas i have would cost enormous amounts of money to implement but as i said, its for the long term gain of the city along with other things ive mentioned.

we have a disturbing method of thought here, that in recessions, allowing foreign investors in with bucket loads of cash, and to give them pretty much free rein to do whatever the hell they want, is a good thing! im starting to wonder as a country, have we actually learned anything from this recession!

i have other issues with modern economics in relation to consumerisation but im not gonna go into it. all i ll say is, its a cod! your nothing on them comment sums up a lot of how some people think about how our cities should serve 'us'. this is what i term, the me me me mentality, i.e. if im not gaining something from something or somebody else, its a waste. believe it or not, things can exist and not serve you in anyway but they might mean something to somebody else. the planet wasnt created for you and your needs alone. id be interested to know how you conducted your survey to come to the conclusion that you speak for 99% of the population.

i think the glass roof thing is an interesting concept. we ll see how it develops.

i guess what im saying is. lets learn from our past mistakes, make some changes, and think before we build and most importantly think before we destroy.

how is our local economy doing? are things really starting to pick up? id be interested to hear from our local business people and from the general population.

CardBordWindow

If they close off the entrance near Burger King, then how are the pigeons going to get in to get their chips?

BBM77

Wanderer78 wrote: »

...i guess what im saying is. lets learn from our past mistakes, make some changes, and think before we build and most importantly think before we destroy...

Exactly, our past mistakes are we grossly under developed our city centre costing us hundreds if not thousands of service industry jobs. This is one of the reasons that Waterford is and has been an unemployment blackspot even during the boom. You see this attitude here the whole time. If the job does not involve wearing overalls or a third level qualification it is not a proper job and we should not be bothered going after them. It is perfectly acceptable to make reasonable changes to the streetscape and have tall buildings in order to achieve progress as long as good design in enforced.

Wanderer78

BBM77 wrote: »

Exactly, our past mistakes are we grossly under developed our city centre costing us hundreds if not thousands of service industry jobs. This is one of the reasons that Waterford is and has been an unemployment blackspot even during the boom. You see this attitude here the whole time. If the job does not involve wearing overalls or a third level qualification it is not a proper job and we should not be bothered going after them. It is perfectly acceptable to make reasonable changes to the streetscape and have tall buildings in order to achieve progress as long as good design in enforced.

ah i think its a lot more complicated than that. unemployment is a result of a lot of complicated issues but development can be an important tool in order to rectify it a long with other changes. theres no harm in people educating themselves to better themselves. in fact id encourage it but i think you are right, all people and jobs are equally important no matter how educated they are. i can understand the frustration though with graduates in not being able to obtain the jobs they are qualified for. our educational system is kinna codding us there. leading us to believe theres a magical job at the end of the course. life aint that easy im afraid. apologies if ive misinterpreted what you re trying to say. in a rush here

BBM77

Wanderer78 wrote: »

ah i think its a lot more complicated than that. unemployment is a result of a lot of complicated issues but development can be an important tool in order to rectify it a long with other changes. theres no harm in people educating themselves to better themselves. in fact id encourage it but i think you are right, all people and jobs are equally important no matter how educated they are. i can understand the frustration though with graduates in not being able to obtain the jobs they are qualified for. our educational system is kinna codding us there. leading us to believe theres a magical job at the end of the course. life aint that easy im afraid. apologies if ive misinterpreted what you re trying to say. in a rush here

I know unemployment is a lot more complicated that is why I said one of the reasons. All I am doing is echoing what has already been said. If the revamped City Square was built in Cork or Galway they would be saying how wonderful it is and why can’t we have a centre like that. But when somebody tries to build it here they are whinging about lost streets, rearranged entrances and it having too many storeys.

debok

BBM77 wrote: »

I know unemployment is a lot more complicated that is why I said one of the reasons. All I am doing is echoing what has already been said. If the revamped City Square was built in Cork or Galway they would be saying who wonderful it is and why can’t we have a centre like that. But when somebody tries to build it here they are whinging about lost streets, rearranged entrances and it having too many storeys.

Waterford people love to give out. Give out when something is done ,give out when something not done.

Shane07

The sooner it happens the better the area is depressing! I agree the place is full of negativity let them build 20floors if they want just get some decent retail stores into the city and stop the leakage to other cities!