Skate Park Open?

eleMental

I thought that a new Skate Park had just opened up near Jackie Skelly's somewhere? If this is true then does anyone know is it actually open at the weekends?

If it is, then can anyone explain to me why the aspiring skateboarders of the greater North Wicklow area feel the need to spend their weekend afternoons perfecting their jumps, techniques and "skills" outside the entrance to the Superquinn upper and lower carparks and on the road outside the Grove Creche, and swinging off and walking along the height restriction bar at the carpark entrace, instead of actually using the skate-park that was purpose-built especially for them????

wideangle

Go the the sports forum and then the extremesports page there is a thread there names Greystones skatepark.:cool:
Oh and ya it is open about a month now.

eleMental

Hmm well in that case it cant be much good. Cos all the skateboarders are hanging out and skating down in Charlesland instead of up there!!!!

luapenak

eleMental wrote:

I thought that a new Skate Park had just opened up near Jackie Skelly's somewhere? If this is true then does anyone know is it actually open at the weekends?

If it is, then can anyone explain to me why the aspiring skateboarders of the greater North Wicklow area feel the need to spend their weekend afternoons perfecting their jumps, techniques and "skills" outside the entrance to the Superquinn upper and lower carparks and on the road outside the Grove Creche, and swinging off and walking along the height restriction bar at the carpark entrace, instead of actually using the skate-park that was purpose-built especially for them????

swinging off and walking along height restriction bars has nothing to do with a skatepark. just because they skateboard doesn't mean they don't enjoy other non-related activities.

but anyway, the skatepark is CLOSED at the moment. I know it is a shambles. It was only opened a few weeks ago. It has been closed for the last week and a half. It was said that it would be open today, but the work it was closed to do is not nearly complete. So the word is that it will be open again by next monday, but i wouldnt trust that.
They still need to build the fence around the whole park, hook up the lights and put astro-turf down on all the patches around the park.
The kids you are reffering too probably went up to the skatepark not knowing that it was closed and decided that a big empty carpark was as good a place as any to skate. I dont see why you care . Even if it was open there will still be people skating other places. Maybe the place is packed, or there not bothered going all the way up there, or they have just popped down to the shops to get some food, or thy just decide they would like to do something that they have seen somewhere. One skatepark or many cant cater for all, all skaters wants. they are still going to want to skate street and other obstacles

loyatemu

so it was opened before it was finished?

I smell an election stunt.

MuffinsDa

loyatemu wrote:

so it was opened before it was finished?

I smell an election stunt.

totally!
funny enough the construction of swimming pool has began all of a sudden too. Coincidence...?!

Marcais

MuffinsDa wrote:

totally!
funny enough the construction of swimming pool has began all of a sudden too. Coincidence...?!

Very cynical. Next you'll be suggesting that the placement of Dick Roche's billboard at the front of the pool contsruction site* is opportunistic also. Where do you get these ideas from?

*The only actual construction that has begun is construction of the site i.e. hoardings. The sod has been turned twice by Roche in previous years and this time by Bertie himself I believe.

mikedragon32

MuffinsDa wrote:

totally!
funny enough the construction of swimming pool has began all of a sudden too. Coincidence...?!

Well, the fence surrounding the site is being constructed anyway. With a big Dick Roche billboard right in front of it!

Let's see what happens AFTER the election...

[edit]

Damn it Marcais, you beat me to it!

[/edit]

Wineman

loyatemu wrote:

so it was opened before it was finished?

I smell an election stunt.

Your sense of smell was right,
Dick Roche brought Bertie up there last week to have a look at it after he turned the sod for the swimming pool, incidentaly no one was there to see him turn said sod except for the cameramen!!

Marcais

mikedragon32 wrote:

Well, the fence surrounding the site is being constructed anyway. With a big Dick Roche billboard right in front of it!

Let's see what happens AFTER the election...

[edit]

Damn it Marcais, you beat me to it!

[/edit]

D'oh! And I type about as quick as I play football so you've no excuse.

Fiachra2

There is a shocking level of cynicism creeping into this forum!! I have no doubt that Dick will ensure that there is a swimming pool there in months. And If there isnt he will blame Wicklow County Council for being as incompetent in matters aquatic as Galway CC

At least the hoarding gives us an idea of what the harbour may look like for the next few years

Charlie-Bravo

Fiachra2 wrote:

There is a shocking level of cynicism creeping into this forum!! I have no doubt that Dick will ensure that there is a swimming pool there in months. And If there isnt he will blame Wicklow County Council for being as incompetent in matters aquatic as Galway CC

At least the hoarding gives us an idea of what the harbour may look like for the next few years

What harbour?!

jb91

Fiachra2 wrote:

There is a shocking level of cynicism creeping into this forum!! I have no doubt that Dick will ensure that there is a swimming pool there in months. And If there isnt he will blame Wicklow County Council for being as incompetent in matters aquatic as Galway CC

At least the hoarding gives us an idea of what the harbour may look like for the next few years

The billboard thing for the swimming pool was put up in 2002 and then we were told it would be there "in a few months" :rolleyes:

new arrival

I dont see why you care . Even if it was open there will still be people skating other places. Maybe the place is packed, or there not bothered going all the way up there, or they have just popped down to the shops to get some food, or thy just decide they would like to do something that they have seen somewhere. One skatepark or many cant cater for all, all skaters wants. they are still going to want to skate street and other obstacles[/QUOTE]

We care, as they are messing around outside our houses.

The height bar into the underground carpark is only held up by a plastic string and is constantly being cut by the skaters so it's hanging down dangerously by one side. If they acted more responsibly around the carpark, none of us would mind.

It would be great if they just 'popped' down to the shops, but one of them is going to get hurt by the cars coming out from the underground carpark very soon as it's a bad blind spot.

luapenak

new arrival wrote:

We care, as they are messing around outside our houses.

.

Fair enough so

Marcais

new arrival wrote:

I dont see why you care . Even if it was open there will still be people skating other places. Maybe the place is packed, or there not bothered going all the way up there, or they have just popped down to the shops to get some food, or thy just decide they would like to do something that they have seen somewhere. One skatepark or many cant cater for all, all skaters wants. they are still going to want to skate street and other obstacles

We care, as they are messing around outside our houses.

The height bar into the underground carpark is only held up by a plastic string and is constantly being cut by the skaters so it's hanging down dangerously by one side. If they acted more responsibly around the carpark, none of us would mind.

It would be great if they just 'popped' down to the shops, but one of them is going to get hurt by the cars coming out from the underground carpark very soon as it's a bad blind spot.[/QUOTE]

CBRE were asked to do something about all this (security etc.) but have not done anything as of yet.

The entire centre (including Jackie Skelly site) is now up for sale for €30 million so they may not now do anything.

Or maybe now is a good time to make sure something is done. Perspective buyers may be put off by p!ssed of residents/customers.

future_plans

Marcais wrote:

[/I][/COLOR]
The entire centre (including Jackie Skelly site) is now up for sale for €30 million so they may not now do anything.

Is Charlesland Sports Centre up for sale? I didn't notice. Where did you find details of that? I thought it was supposed to be publicly run by the council?

mikedragon32

future_plans wrote:

Is Charlesland Sports Centre up for sale? I didn't notice. Where did you find details of that? I thought it was supposed to be publicly run by the council?

The new sports centre (ie. astro pitches/courts/track/skate park) are NOT for sale.

What is for sale is the "shopping centre" and the gym (with current tenants unaffected).

It was in the Irish Times Commercial Property Supplement on Wednesday:

Retail Development: The five-year-old Charlesland shopping centre and leisure complex in Greystones, Co Wicklow, is for sale for €30 million. Jack Fagan reports.

An interesting retail and leisure investment comes on the market today when the five-year-old Charlesland shopping centre and leisure complex in Greystones, Co Wicklow, goes for sale by private treaty.

Robert Murphy of CB Richard Ellis is guiding €30 million for the two facilities which are producing a combined rental income of €1,129,750.

There is scope to increase the income in the short term. The portfolio is producing an initial yield of 3.3 per cent, rising to 4.9 per cent when three remaining units are leased.

The Charlesland development serves a vast new area in Greystones which is set grow even faster over the next few years.

Almost 2,000 houses have already been completed in Charlesland and Eden Gate and several more major schemes are in the pipeline.

There's a lot more to the article but that's the jist of it anyway. What it fails to mention is that most of the units are vacant and that Eden Gate also has a pretty vacant shopping facility too!

Also, it's not 5 years old, or even close. As one who is amongst the longest living in Charlesland (got our keys in mid-June 2004), it was quite a while before Superquinn (the first unit to open) was in operation.

Fiachra2

Actually, it did admit to the empty units. It was one of the more interesting parts of the article. The rental yield was 3.3% but would go up to 4.9% when all units were filled. 3.3% is pretty poor and with the prospect of a huge shopping centre opening nearby the units could remain empty for a while. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to sell.

Then again, it is only a "prospect" of a huge shopping centre.......

loyatemu

theres 2 empty shop units (though I think one of those has been let as there was a planning notice up recently to change it to a takeaway) plus the pub, medical centre and offices are all vacant.

the times article suggested possible uses for the vacant units would be:

a hair and beauty salon - but theres already one there!
a newsagent - Superquinn is a newsagent, and the only new newsagents opening anywhere are all Spars and Centras.
a video store - no-one is opening new video stores these days, its a dying industry.

anyway, maybe new owners would set a more realistic rent for the pub and it might finally open. I can dream...

Fiachra2

Dare I suggest a skateboard shop....!!?

luapenak

Fiachra2 wrote:

Dare I suggest a skateboard shop....!!?

Actually www.theboardroom.ie will be setting up a shop in greytones once the premises that they are waiting (was supposed to be done in march) for is finished. I believe they tried to get a unit up beside superquinn already but they had no look.I'm not sure why.