Is this serious? an Ice rink?

Jumpy

http://www.limerickblogger.org/blog/?p=2992#comments

I had to give up speed skating when I came to this country. I really hope this isnt some sort of joke.

billy the squid

Planning application
http://www.lcc.ie/ePlan/InternetEnquiry/rpt_ViewApplicDetails.asp?validFileNum=1&app_num_file=064103

Karmafaerie

Well, if ye remember back to a couple of months ago, LCC were planning to build something that would bring in extra tourists.

Out of the twenty ideas put forward, five were agreed upon, and three of them have been released.

One of them was a big conference hall/concert venue, to compete with Killarney and Dublin, so this could end up being bigger than we think.

krudler

if it can be used as a concert hall then thats great,this country has a serious lack of venues outside dublin

1huge1

^ from my experience considering the population of the areas here we ahead of the game

Jumpy

IS it going to be a full time ice-rink, or is it just so they can have things such as disney on ice etc.?

Karmafaerie

Jumpy wrote:

IS it going to be a full time ice-rink, or is it just so they can have things such as disney on ice etc.?

The way that it's represented in the planning permission would imply that it'll be full-time but you never know.

The building housing it will be big though.
It was originally going to be a 10 screen cinema, and a number of retail units!

1huge1

^^ I thought the retail units were still going through and just the cinema that was scrapped...

Karmafaerie

1huge1 wrote:

^^ I thought the retail units were still going through and just the cinema that was scrapped...

Don't worry retail units are still going there.

Three anchor stores, over 50 retail units, 16 restaurants and food courts, a creche, a well-being centre(?!), cafe/juice-bar, a sports injury clinic, and over 1,600 parking spaces, (both underground and overground).

Also being developed is a big park maybe with a small artificial pond/mini-lake. This will have a football pitch and skate park.

The sports centre/theatre is going to be a separate building on the site.

It's going to have basketball courts, squash courts, a gym, and an ice-rink.
The ice-rink will be fairly big, as that will more than likely be the theatre as well, with banked seating on all sides.
For concerts and events the ice will be taken away, but for most of the year it will be an ice-rink.

What I was saying about the retail units is that there were originally going to be more of them in the same building as the cinema, but now that building is just going to be for the theatre/ sports centre.

Karmafaerie

This is the total land in question.

Most of it will probably be the park, but you can see just how big this thing is going to be!

(P.S: A bit of that land around Castletroy View is now houses that were built since this Google Earth image was taken.)



1= Parkway
2= Parkway Retail Park
3= Childers Road Retail Park
(Just in case ye're a bit slow!;) )

1huge1

Damn thats impressive its going to be huge
blows the opera centre out of the ground

Jumpy

All that land? Thats enormous.

Goofy

Karmafaerie wrote:

Don't worry retail units are still going there.

Three anchor stores, over 50 retail units, 16 restaurants and food courts, a creche, a well-being centre(?!), cafe/juice-bar, a sports injury clinic, and over 1,600 parking spaces, (both underground and overground).

Also being developed is a big park maybe with a small artificial pond/mini-lake. This will have a football pitch and skate park.

The sports centre/theatre is going to be a separate building on the site.

It's going to have basketball courts, squash courts, a gym, and an ice-rink.
The ice-rink will be fairly big, as that will more than likely be the theatre as well, with banked seating on all sides.
For concerts and events the ice will be taken away, but for most of the year it will be an ice-rink.

What I was saying about the retail units is that there were originally going to be more of them in the same building as the cinema, but now that building is just going to be for the theatre/ sports centre.

no its not. it is incorporated in the shopping centre. According to the drawings there will be the main shopping area with a food court above that, and the ice rink will be on the floor above the food court.

and that picture you put up is wrong as well. the site is only the the area in the top left corner of the red box. The area that is slightly more brown in colour

Karmafaerie

Goofy wrote:

no its not. it is incorporated in the shopping centre. According to the drawings there will be the main shopping area with a food court above that, and the ice rink will be on the floor above the food court.

and that picture you put up is wrong as well. the site is only the the area in the top left corner of the red box. The area that is slightly more brown in colour

There are currently three different pictures of plans going around, and it is uncertain which is being used.
I would appreciate if you posted the ones you are referring to as these could be new ones again for all I know, or one of the old ones, that have been circulating for years.

There are three anchor stores planned in this new development, and when the original plan was for a cinema the idea was to have two in one building, and the third in the same complex as the cinema.
That was amended for the theatre/ice-rink, but it is now also thought that this plan might change seeing as the council has plans for a large conference center/theatre and this could be it, if the capacity is increased.
This is what I have been led to believe, although being Ireland (as this development is testament to), things will more than likely change another dozen or so times before construction is complete.

As for the picture I put up, as I stated most of that is supposedly going to be the park, and a lot of it is already housing as I also stated.

That brown area in the picture is by no means the whole area being developed.

To put this in context, this center with 3 anchor stores, 51 retail units, a food court, well-being center, theatre/sports center, 16 restaurants, 1,600 car park spaces, sports clinic, creche, and cafe/juice bar, will be bigger than the Crescent which has some 40 retail units/restaurants, and two anchor stores.
This does not include the sizable park, skate park, and football pitch, yet you are saying that it'll fit into land that occupies less of the area of the Crescent!

No.

Goofy

the plans i have seen are attatched to the planning permission in the Limerick County Council website
http://www.lcc.ie/ePlan/InternetEnquiry/rpt_ViewApplicDetails.asp?validFileNum=1&app_num_file=064103

I dont think i can post the pictures here due to legal issues, but if you click on the link and then the 'view related documents' button you will be able to see them

1huge1

Bigger than the cresent, wow this city has some competition when it comes to shopping centres. the likes of which are only seen in limerick and dublin in this country imo (cork has mahon point and blackpool and there not outstanding by any means).

Dare I ask how long this is going to take and when does construction start?

Goofy

1huge1 wrote:

Bigger than the cresent, wow this city has some competition when it comes to shopping centres. the likes of which are only seen in limerick and dublin in this country imo (cork has mahon point and blackpool and there not outstanding by any means).

Dare I ask how long this is going to take and when does construction start?

The diggers have been onsite for a couple of weeks now doing the ground works.

I am amazed at how hush hush this development has been kept. Building has already begun there has been almost no media attention

talkingclock

Karmafaerie wrote:

There are three anchor stores planned in this new development

Karmafaerie wrote:

this center with 3 anchor stores

How long will it take until we hear the M&S rumour on the streets?

Hint: Coonagh Cross and Opera SC

Goofy

This is the site according to the drawings attatched to the planning permission on the limerick county council website for this development.

The red area is the shopping centre/health centre/ice rink/ carpark etc. and the green area is the park



The cresent sc is a single story building with the majority of the carparks sprawled around its perimeter. It has 1 small undergroung carpark. This is why it has such a large footprint.
This devepolment on the other hand is planned to be spread over 5 stories, 2 of which will be undergroung parking, thus reducing its footprint

1huge1

Thats alot smaller than the earlier image but then again you did say 5 stories...

Jumpy

I wonder if I could start up a speed skating team.
I havent skated in years apart from the christmas Ice rink (and they were going in the wrong direction).
I have a contact for equipment, although I would be ****e as a trainer.

Karmafaerie

Jumpy wrote:

I wonder if I could start up a speed skating team.
I havent skated in years apart from the christmas Ice rink (and they were going in the wrong direction).
I have a contact for equipment, although I would be ****e as a trainer.

If I'm hear when it's done I'd give it a go.
I'm prepared to fall down on ice at highspeeds over, and over again!

Liam Byrne

So with all these sports facilities, where's the squash courts ? I haven't been able to play squash since they closed the one in Croom......

As for the ice rink - great! The one at Christmas was fun. Bring it on!

The only problem that I see is that they'll need an underground metro to get any cars anywhere near it.....traffic in that area is cat as is it - what'll it be like when this is built ???