Block beside riverpoint, time for development

jmch81

The empty offices in Harvey's Quay are to be occupied by one of the big four accountancy firms. Can't remember which one at the moment.

I drove past the ESB site yesterday during the day and they were drilling for core samples in the carpark.

mynameis905

zulutango wrote: »

The building at Harvey's Quay (Milano's, Dunnes Stores) is a real blemish on that waterfront. The Bridgewater apartments are pretty damn poor too. Seamus Carr's building (Clohessy's, etc) and Riverpoint are good though. And at least the two sites you mentioned haven't been developed yet, so there's hope for those. The boardwalk is a real eyesore from across the river and that's a shame because it was very unnecessary. A much less expensive and less ugly public realm job could have been done there without needing to build the boardwalk.

+1

The apartments above Milanos are pretty grim looking.

Townie_P

zulutango wrote: »

It's way too dominant for where it is. If it was a more impressive building, I'd say fair enough, but it's really not that impressive. Also, if there were other tall buildings around it then it wouldn't be so bad.

The Clarion is fine, it's what's around it that 's the problem. That whole dock road area as you approach the city could be so much better if everything except the Clarion was leveled. Steamboat Quay and that Skate park are awful. You could either level Steamboat Quay and open up the whole area with a public space or replace Steamboat Quay with another quality high rise.

It's also a terrible shame that the waterfront area preceding the clarion is basically a junk yard. If the dock road area was opened up from the Bannatyne Mill (another wasted gem) all the way in to the city it would transform the area. You could have something similar to the Albert Dock in Liverpool. The current approach in to the city is depressing.

Red King

Agree with the points made above. Ultimately however the people of Limerick need to accept a certain amount of responsibility for the mess that we are in, after all, we are the ones who keep electing these plastic waterheads that comprise the city council and their gombeen overlords at national level.

We are electing the wrong people and then complaining when they make a balls of things. One can always point to the poor candidates put forward and have a point but it is beyond obvious now that the political parties aren't interested in putting forward decent candidates. So the people of Limerick need to come together and find/encourage the right people to run for office. Frankly we need to wrestle control of our city back from the underperforming status quo snout in the trough brigade.

Only then can we begin to envisage building a city where we can all enjoy a higher quality of life, a city that is meeting its potential and offering everyone a chance to improve their lot in life. A living, breathing city that embraces its heritage, the environment and the citizens instead of the current situation where a small group of corporate whores use the city as a personal plaything to feather their own nests, embarrass us all in the process and make a complete arse of the city for generations to come.

phill106

zulutango wrote: »

It's way too dominant for where it is. If it was a more impressive building, I'd say fair enough, but it's really not that impressive. Also, if there were other tall buildings around it then it wouldn't be so bad.

Tall buildings like riverpoint? seems close enough?
Plus if tall buildings should only have tall buildings around them, where does the 1st tall building go?!

Cookiemunster

Red King wrote: »

Agree with the points made above. Ultimately however the people of Limerick need to accept a certain amount of responsibility for the mess that we are in, after all, we are the ones who keep electing these plastic waterheads that comprise the city council and their gombeen overlords at national level.

We are electing the wrong people and then complaining when they make a balls of things. One can always point to the poor candidates put forward and have a point but it is beyond obvious now that the political parties aren't interested in putting forward decent candidates. So the people of Limerick need to come together and find/encourage the right people to run for office. Frankly we need to wrestle control of our city back from the underperforming status quo snout in the trough brigade.

Only then can we begin to envisage building a city where we can all enjoy a higher quality of life, a city that is meeting its potential and offering everyone a chance to improve their lot in life. A living, breathing city that embraces its heritage, the environment and the citizens instead of the current situation where a small group of corporate whores use the city as a personal plaything to feather their own nests, embarrass us all in the process and make a complete arse of the city for generations to come.

The council is a talking shop with no real power. If you're going to blame anyone it's the city manager and various directors of services. Although saying that I think you're going a bit overboard with the whole corporate whore spiel.

dave 27

Another welcomed development woukd be of the hotel just at the end of sarsfields bridge on the city side, the name escapes me, but if we saw something shiney and modern there too it woukd open that while area up and you never know dunnes might eventually do something then about their building!

Vanquished

The Dock Road is grim.There's no escaping that reality. The sporadic development of industrial buildings, warehouses, petrol stations etc over the years has given it a fairly haphazard appearance. The council had earmarked it for one of their comical masterplans about a decade ago that would've seen it transformed in to some kind of continental style boulevard!! Needless to say absolutely nothing of the sort has been achieved. That said an upgrade of the road surface, footpaths, streetlighting and if possible the installation of cycle lanes would make a positive difference.

Closer to the city centre the Limerick port operations complicate matters a little. There are a lot of dead frontages along the port side of the road and it would be desirable if the port company could rationalise their land holdings and sell off unused sites that they no longer require. They were talking about doing this over the last number of years although I don't think much has happened. They did restore Bannatynes mill in the hope of increasing its attractiveness to investors and potential occupiers but it remains empty. The docklands and especially the area adjacent to the Clarion would be an excellent location for new, high quality city centre apartments along the lines of what has been achieved at the strand complex.

Bord Gais are also preparing their large former gasworks site fronting Dock Road and O'Curry Street for development. I'd imagine a residential scheme would be the most likely future use here.

Townie_P

Vanquished wrote: »

The Dock Road is grim.There's no escaping that reality. The sporadic development of industrial buildings, warehouses, petrol stations etc over the years has given it a fairly haphazard appearance. The council had earmarked it for one of their comical masterplans about a decade ago that would've seen it transformed in to some kind of continental style boulevard!! Needless to say absolutely nothing of the sort has been achieved. That said an upgrade of the road surface, footpaths, streetlighting and if possible the installation of cycle lanes would make a positive difference.

Closer to the city centre the Limerick port operations complicate matters a little. There are a lot of dead frontages along the port side of the road and it would be desirable if the port company could rationalise their land holdings and sell off unused sites that they no longer require. They were talking about doing this over the last number of years although I don't think much has happened. They did restore Bannatynes mill in the hope of increasing its attractiveness to investors and potential occupiers but it remains empty. The docklands and especially the area adjacent to the Clarion would be an excellent location for new, high quality city centre apartments along the lines of what has been achieved at the strand complex.

Seeing as millions is being invested in Foynes port, could most port operations not be moved out there? There is the potential for a top class marina, mooring area and Boulevard where the current operations are. Could also create a major new water tourism attraction for the City.

Vanquished wrote: »

Bord Gais are also preparing their large former gasworks site fronting Dock Road and O'Curry Street for development. I'd imagine a residential scheme would be the most likely future use here.

About time, they applied to clean the site in 2012 and it only got going late last year. It'll probably be 2018 before it's ready for use again, and no doubt it'll be put on the market for sale then. It's a whopper of a site, huge potential for quality residential/hotel/modern offices or even as a third level campus. Again a very important site so whatever goes in there needs to be quality.

Red King

The last thing needed is another hotel!

Limerick Dude

Townie_P wrote: »

About time, they applied to clean the site in 2012 and it only got going late last year. It'll probably be 2018 before it's ready for use again, and no doubt it'll be put on the market for sale then. It's a whopper of a site, huge potential for quality residential/hotel/modern offices or even as a third level campus. Again a very important site so whatever goes in there needs to be quality.

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I think there was a lot of environmental remediation that needed to be done on site before it could be developed. Think there was a lot of run off into the soil over the years which needed to be sorted before any development could take place.