A DEVELOPMENT SITE for the proposed Opera shopping centre in Limerick city centre, sold at the peak of the property boom for €110 million, is back on the market at a mere €12.5 million. The collapse in value underlines how much even prime retail sites have fallen in cities as well as towns. It also reflects the difficulties in securing funding for large-scale shopping facilities.
The 2005 sale of the rundown, vacant buildings off Patrick Street in Limerick is frequently cited among the great excesses of the property boom along with the €417 million purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and the €315 million acquisition of the Millennium Park in Naas.
Estate agents Savills are to launch a marketing campaign today to find a buyer for the 3.2-acre site which has planning permission for a multi-storey shopping centre with 38,541sq m (414,855 sq ft) of retail space and an underground car park. The sale has been called by developers Gerry O’Reilly, Terry Sweeney and David Courtney of Regeneration Developments, whose loans have been transferred to Nama.
The move to sell the site for the proposed €300 million Opera Centre comes only weeks after the Danish bank NIB reached agreement with an Indian-born developer, Suneil Sharama, for him to take control of a partially built shopping centre along the Dublin Road on the outskirts of Limerick city. Liam Carroll’s Zoe Group abandoned the 15-acre site for the Parkway Valley shopping centre about four years ago when its business collapsed. Local planners are now expected to allow an extension of time on the planning permission for the 39,650sq m (426,792sq ft) retail complex.
Coincidentally, the new promoter for that scheme, Mr Sharma, who is based in the North, is more familiar with the site for the Opera centre than anyone else – having quietly assembled the inner-city quarter along with another investor, Sam Morrison, over a number of years before selling it for an astronomical price to Regeneration Developments.
Limerick city planners granted planning approval for the Opera Centre in the hope that it might help to shift the balance back in favour of the city, which has been in serious decline for many years following the indiscriminate development of more than half a dozen shopping centres in the county-council areas adjoining the city boundary.
Footfall in the city centre has dropped dramatically in recent years as big-name overseas traders opted for out-of-town locations, leaving only three high-profile stores (Penney’s, Brown Thomas and Debenhams) with a broad appeal to city shoppers.
Many of the city’s once-thriving retail streets, including Patrick Street, William Street and the modern Cruises Street, have lost both traders and shoppers. Limerick is the only city in Ireland where rents in out-of-town shopping centres are almost twice as high as those in the city.
Much of the decline in city-centre trading is due to the way the county planners allowed the Crescent shopping centre to grow like Topsy. That trend was finally scuppered last year when An Bord Pleanála overruled the county planners and refused the Dublin-based owners (the Kenny family) permission for yet another major store with a floor area of 9,754 sq m (105,000 sq ft) for Marks Spencer.
The new Government’s recent decision to amalgamate the two local authorities is set to change future planning in the city and county. With Marks Spencer still to decide where to open its first Limerick store, Parkway Valley and whoever acquires the Opera site will both be pitching for the UK multiple as an anchor.
One developer who may take another look at the Opera site is Michael Tiernan, whose Arthur’s Quay shopping centre on the opposite side of Patrick Street has become quite dated. However, if linked up with the proposed new shopping complex it has the potential to turn around the city’s fortunes.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label limerick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label limerick. Show all posts
Monday, 3 October 2011
€110m development site back on market at €12.5m
A DEVELOPMENT SITE for the proposed Opera shopping centre in Limerick city centre, sold at the peak of the property boom for €110 million, is back on the market at a mere €12.5 million. The collapse in value underlines how much even prime retail sites have fallen in cities as well as towns. It also reflects the difficulties in securing funding for large-scale shopping facilities.
The 2005 sale of the rundown, vacant buildings off Patrick Street in Limerick is frequently cited among the great excesses of the property boom along with the €417 million purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and the €315 million acquisition of the Millennium Park in Naas.
Estate agents Savills are to launch a marketing campaign today to find a buyer for the 3.2-acre site which has planning permission for a multi-storey shopping centre with 38,541sq m (414,855 sq ft) of retail space and an underground car park. The sale has been called by developers Gerry O’Reilly, Terry Sweeney and David Courtney of Regeneration Developments, whose loans have been transferred to Nama.
The move to sell the site for the proposed €300 million Opera Centre comes only weeks after the Danish bank NIB reached agreement with an Indian-born developer, Suneil Sharama, for him to take control of a partially built shopping centre along the Dublin Road on the outskirts of Limerick city. Liam Carroll’s Zoe Group abandoned the 15-acre site for the Parkway Valley shopping centre about four years ago when its business collapsed. Local planners are now expected to allow an extension of time on the planning permission for the 39,650sq m (426,792sq ft) retail complex.
Coincidentally, the new promoter for that scheme, Mr Sharma, who is based in the North, is more familiar with the site for the Opera centre than anyone else – having quietly assembled the inner-city quarter along with another investor, Sam Morrison, over a number of years before selling it for an astronomical price to Regeneration Developments.
Limerick city planners granted planning approval for the Opera Centre in the hope that it might help to shift the balance back in favour of the city, which has been in serious decline for many years following the indiscriminate development of more than half a dozen shopping centres in the county-council areas adjoining the city boundary.
Footfall in the city centre has dropped dramatically in recent years as big-name overseas traders opted for out-of-town locations, leaving only three high-profile stores (Penney’s, Brown Thomas and Debenhams) with a broad appeal to city shoppers.
Many of the city’s once-thriving retail streets, including Patrick Street, William Street and the modern Cruises Street, have lost both traders and shoppers. Limerick is the only city in Ireland where rents in out-of-town shopping centres are almost twice as high as those in the city.
Much of the decline in city-centre trading is due to the way the county planners allowed the Crescent shopping centre to grow like Topsy. That trend was finally scuppered last year when An Bord Pleanála overruled the county planners and refused the Dublin-based owners (the Kenny family) permission for yet another major store with a floor area of 9,754 sq m (105,000 sq ft) for Marks Spencer.
The new Government’s recent decision to amalgamate the two local authorities is set to change future planning in the city and county. With Marks Spencer still to decide where to open its first Limerick store, Parkway Valley and whoever acquires the Opera site will both be pitching for the UK multiple as an anchor.
One developer who may take another look at the Opera site is Michael Tiernan, whose Arthur’s Quay shopping centre on the opposite side of Patrick Street has become quite dated. However, if linked up with the proposed new shopping complex it has the potential to turn around the city’s fortunes.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The 2005 sale of the rundown, vacant buildings off Patrick Street in Limerick is frequently cited among the great excesses of the property boom along with the €417 million purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and the €315 million acquisition of the Millennium Park in Naas.
Estate agents Savills are to launch a marketing campaign today to find a buyer for the 3.2-acre site which has planning permission for a multi-storey shopping centre with 38,541sq m (414,855 sq ft) of retail space and an underground car park. The sale has been called by developers Gerry O’Reilly, Terry Sweeney and David Courtney of Regeneration Developments, whose loans have been transferred to Nama.
The move to sell the site for the proposed €300 million Opera Centre comes only weeks after the Danish bank NIB reached agreement with an Indian-born developer, Suneil Sharama, for him to take control of a partially built shopping centre along the Dublin Road on the outskirts of Limerick city. Liam Carroll’s Zoe Group abandoned the 15-acre site for the Parkway Valley shopping centre about four years ago when its business collapsed. Local planners are now expected to allow an extension of time on the planning permission for the 39,650sq m (426,792sq ft) retail complex.
Coincidentally, the new promoter for that scheme, Mr Sharma, who is based in the North, is more familiar with the site for the Opera centre than anyone else – having quietly assembled the inner-city quarter along with another investor, Sam Morrison, over a number of years before selling it for an astronomical price to Regeneration Developments.
Limerick city planners granted planning approval for the Opera Centre in the hope that it might help to shift the balance back in favour of the city, which has been in serious decline for many years following the indiscriminate development of more than half a dozen shopping centres in the county-council areas adjoining the city boundary.
Footfall in the city centre has dropped dramatically in recent years as big-name overseas traders opted for out-of-town locations, leaving only three high-profile stores (Penney’s, Brown Thomas and Debenhams) with a broad appeal to city shoppers.
Many of the city’s once-thriving retail streets, including Patrick Street, William Street and the modern Cruises Street, have lost both traders and shoppers. Limerick is the only city in Ireland where rents in out-of-town shopping centres are almost twice as high as those in the city.
Much of the decline in city-centre trading is due to the way the county planners allowed the Crescent shopping centre to grow like Topsy. That trend was finally scuppered last year when An Bord Pleanála overruled the county planners and refused the Dublin-based owners (the Kenny family) permission for yet another major store with a floor area of 9,754 sq m (105,000 sq ft) for Marks Spencer.
The new Government’s recent decision to amalgamate the two local authorities is set to change future planning in the city and county. With Marks Spencer still to decide where to open its first Limerick store, Parkway Valley and whoever acquires the Opera site will both be pitching for the UK multiple as an anchor.
One developer who may take another look at the Opera site is Michael Tiernan, whose Arthur’s Quay shopping centre on the opposite side of Patrick Street has become quite dated. However, if linked up with the proposed new shopping complex it has the potential to turn around the city’s fortunes.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Limerick regeneration plan ‘an investment that will pay for itself’
THE man whose report prompted the government sponsored regeneration plan for Limerick said it is an investment that will pay for itself in the long term.
Former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald said he would have been much more concerned about the economic downturn if they had the plan ready two years ago and were now looking for private and public sector investment.
He said: “In a way it is fortuitous that we are not at that stage now. By the time we get to that stage in a year’s time, I think things will have changed quite considerably and bottomed out. We will know, then, where we stand and how long it will take.”
The regeneration plan, he said is a must. The alternative to do nothing was not an option.
He said: “You can’t leave things simply as they are...”He said much progress has been made since he published his original report 18 months ago.
“It is really the beginning of the beginning. It’s a long haul programme to deal with issues that span generations,” he said.
Mr Fitzgerald added that he is confident that the necessary funding will come.
He said: “The tide has turned, but it will turn again by the time we get well into it [the plan]. Most of next year will be taken up at planning process.”
He said they have been receiving “phenomenal” support from both the environment and justice departments despite the economic change.
Mr Fitzgerald said the costing are “robust” and “conservative”.
Over the coming year they will have an opportunity to check out the private sector appetite to get involved.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald said he would have been much more concerned about the economic downturn if they had the plan ready two years ago and were now looking for private and public sector investment.
He said: “In a way it is fortuitous that we are not at that stage now. By the time we get to that stage in a year’s time, I think things will have changed quite considerably and bottomed out. We will know, then, where we stand and how long it will take.”
The regeneration plan, he said is a must. The alternative to do nothing was not an option.
He said: “You can’t leave things simply as they are...”He said much progress has been made since he published his original report 18 months ago.
“It is really the beginning of the beginning. It’s a long haul programme to deal with issues that span generations,” he said.
Mr Fitzgerald added that he is confident that the necessary funding will come.
He said: “The tide has turned, but it will turn again by the time we get well into it [the plan]. Most of next year will be taken up at planning process.”
He said they have been receiving “phenomenal” support from both the environment and justice departments despite the economic change.
Mr Fitzgerald said the costing are “robust” and “conservative”.
Over the coming year they will have an opportunity to check out the private sector appetite to get involved.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Planning row sees toilets being used as classrooms
CHILDREN attending a Limerick city school will have to continue using converted toilets as classrooms due to a planning row.
A €4 million redevelopment of the JFK primary school faces uncertainty due to objections lodged by local residents.
The Department of Education gave the green light for extensive works at the school, on the Ennis Road, last December.
But residents have appealed the planning approval given by Limerick City Council to An Bord Pleanála. School management fear they will forfeit the money if the planning process is unduly delayed.
A spokesman for the school said: “The new school building is urgently needed as we have language and learning support classes in renovated toilets and six prefabs on site.
“The toilets are also located outside the classrooms and outside the supervision of teachers,” he said.
The three objections have been lodged by residents in adjacent houses on North Circular Road. One objector claims the structure would have the appearance of a factory. There is also an objection to the resiting of the playground to the boundary of the site.
Consultant engineers John T Garrett & Associates, which has been engaged by some of the objectors, says the proposed school development would permanently damage the residential amenity of their client’s property in a way that contravenes the Limerick City Council Development Plan of 2004.
The residents say they are not opposed to the school, but want it done in a way that respects their homes. They also object to the scale of the proposed development.
Parents and teachers have been pushing for a new JFK school since 1971.
An Bord Pleanála is due to make a ruling by May 27.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
A €4 million redevelopment of the JFK primary school faces uncertainty due to objections lodged by local residents.
The Department of Education gave the green light for extensive works at the school, on the Ennis Road, last December.
But residents have appealed the planning approval given by Limerick City Council to An Bord Pleanála. School management fear they will forfeit the money if the planning process is unduly delayed.
A spokesman for the school said: “The new school building is urgently needed as we have language and learning support classes in renovated toilets and six prefabs on site.
“The toilets are also located outside the classrooms and outside the supervision of teachers,” he said.
The three objections have been lodged by residents in adjacent houses on North Circular Road. One objector claims the structure would have the appearance of a factory. There is also an objection to the resiting of the playground to the boundary of the site.
Consultant engineers John T Garrett & Associates, which has been engaged by some of the objectors, says the proposed school development would permanently damage the residential amenity of their client’s property in a way that contravenes the Limerick City Council Development Plan of 2004.
The residents say they are not opposed to the school, but want it done in a way that respects their homes. They also object to the scale of the proposed development.
Parents and teachers have been pushing for a new JFK school since 1971.
An Bord Pleanála is due to make a ruling by May 27.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Planning row sees toilets being used as classrooms
CHILDREN attending a Limerick city school will have to continue using converted toilets as classrooms due to a planning row.
A €4 million redevelopment of the JFK primary school faces uncertainty due to objections lodged by local residents.
The Department of Education gave the green light for extensive works at the school, on the Ennis Road, last December.
But residents have appealed the planning approval given by Limerick City Council to An Bord Pleanála. School management fear they will forfeit the money if the planning process is unduly delayed.
A spokesman for the school said: “The new school building is urgently needed as we have language and learning support classes in renovated toilets and six prefabs on site.
“The toilets are also located outside the classrooms and outside the supervision of teachers,” he said.
The three objections have been lodged by residents in adjacent houses on North Circular Road. One objector claims the structure would have the appearance of a factory. There is also an objection to the resiting of the playground to the boundary of the site.
Consultant engineers John T Garrett & Associates, which has been engaged by some of the objectors, says the proposed school development would permanently damage the residential amenity of their client’s property in a way that contravenes the Limerick City Council Development Plan of 2004.
The residents say they are not opposed to the school, but want it done in a way that respects their homes. They also object to the scale of the proposed development.
Parents and teachers have been pushing for a new JFK school since 1971.
An Bord Pleanála is due to make a ruling by May 27.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
A €4 million redevelopment of the JFK primary school faces uncertainty due to objections lodged by local residents.
The Department of Education gave the green light for extensive works at the school, on the Ennis Road, last December.
But residents have appealed the planning approval given by Limerick City Council to An Bord Pleanála. School management fear they will forfeit the money if the planning process is unduly delayed.
A spokesman for the school said: “The new school building is urgently needed as we have language and learning support classes in renovated toilets and six prefabs on site.
“The toilets are also located outside the classrooms and outside the supervision of teachers,” he said.
The three objections have been lodged by residents in adjacent houses on North Circular Road. One objector claims the structure would have the appearance of a factory. There is also an objection to the resiting of the playground to the boundary of the site.
Consultant engineers John T Garrett & Associates, which has been engaged by some of the objectors, says the proposed school development would permanently damage the residential amenity of their client’s property in a way that contravenes the Limerick City Council Development Plan of 2004.
The residents say they are not opposed to the school, but want it done in a way that respects their homes. They also object to the scale of the proposed development.
Parents and teachers have been pushing for a new JFK school since 1971.
An Bord Pleanála is due to make a ruling by May 27.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
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