Railway Square Complex - Recent planning applications

Sully

I saw there a while back planning permission up in the Railway Square complex and wondered was it TX Maxx. The council gave permission for the modification of the old Pennys unit to build a mezzanine. I assume that is for TK Maxx, but not sure. They seem to have invested in window covers of people shopping etc. to take the look of the complex, thank god.

In addition, the car park is to get additional signage (illuminated) at the junction between Manor St. and Railway Square and also direclty above the enterance. Its a car park that is probably more forgotten about seing as the complex is empty and there isnt much signage. An applicaiton for signage was withdrawn earlier this year also.

The complex management also seem to be looking to build a single span Pedestrian Bridge over Johns River to Millar's Marsh car park. No decession reached yet.

Shame that not more businesses take one of the units. Centra never survived, but Storm does well (as expected). Pennys did well but was only there on a temp basis. TK Maxx will hopefully draw a crowd but it seems there is no intention for anything else throughout the complex. Just seems that the complex are doing a lot of work recently on the complex judging by applicaitons going in and associated site work.

Cabaal

Whoever owned that Centra failed to do any market research before they went about putting a store there, they should be given a switch kick for being so stupid.

Not only was centra stuck between Tesco's and another Centra up at resolutions but it had no outside parking, you couldn't simply stop pop-in and pop-out again....if you wanted to do anything like that you'd need to park in Tesco's and at that stage its easier go to Tesco's. (and likely cheaper too)

I think the owner of the store must have failed 1st year business studys in school or something,

merlante

The fact that it's a recession doesn't help of course. It's that there is retail space for TKMaxx. Without Railway sq., you'd be reaching to find another suitable unit in the city centre.

dayshah

merlante wrote: »

The fact that it's a recession doesn't help of course. It's that there is retail space for TKMaxx. Without Railway sq., you'd be reaching to find another suitable unit in the city centre.

My prob with Railway Square is it has 1 or 2 floors of apartments too many and is generally ugly. It could have made better use of John River and be a proper fancy schmancy sort of place.

Imagine if Newgate had gone ahead, and stopped halfway. Would the council have to clean it up? Would they have the money to do that plus the W Crystal Centre. Or if it was half built and idle, what would tourists say going home after visiting the centre?

Stop for the centre, and then straight on to Cork, just like before.

merlante

dayshah wrote: »

My prob with Railway Square is it has 1 or 2 floors of apartments too many and is generally ugly. It could have made better use of John River and be a proper fancy schmancy sort of place.

Imagine if Newgate had gone ahead, and stopped halfway. Would the council have to clean it up? Would they have the money to do that plus the W Crystal Centre. Or if it was half built and idle, what would tourists say going home after visiting the centre?

Stop for the centre, and then straight on to Cork, just like before.

I think Railway sq. is a quite attractive building, so I don't understand what you are talking about.

Having loads of apartments is great for renters and keeps rents low. We don't have so many vacant apartments in Waterford that slums, ghost areas are going to develop. In the next 5-10 years, rents will move upwards again, and everybody will be complaining that there are too few apartments. Waterford and Dublin are simply incomparable in this regard.

Things like Newgate are rarely half built, because investors and banks realise that if they've already invested half the money, they'll have to invest the other half to get a return. Even NAMA will be finishing certain developments. To think that Newgate would have been stopped half way through is quite pessimistic. It was, after all, planned prior to McDonough station iirc.

JohnC.

Is there really a need for another bridge to Millers Marsh? There's one at each end and they've even put a proper footpath in at the road end recently.

dayshah

merlante wrote: »

I think Railway sq. is a quite attractive building, so I don't understand what you are talking about.

Britney Spears will age better than that monstrosity.

Reginalds Tower - over 1000 years on and looking good

The Infirmary - over 100 years on and still looking good

Railway Square - Already looking dated.

Seriously, most of the new developments were ugly. The only good one that comes to mind was Urban Hype.

Also, anything that uses wood panelling is ugly. Wood panelling isn't suited to our climate.

merlante

dayshah wrote: »

Britney Spears will age better than that monstrosity.

Reginalds Tower - over 1000 years on and looking good

The Infirmary - over 100 years on and still looking good

Railway Square - Already looking dated.

Seriously, most of the new developments were ugly. The only good one that comes to mind was Urban Hype.

Also, anything that uses wood panelling is ugly. Wood panelling isn't suited to our climate.

I think that Maritana Gate is one of the nicest buildings in the city and it looks great against the park.

I think the point is, though, that you are not a fan of modern architecture. I think you're just going to have to wait it out.

dayshah

merlante wrote: »

I think that Maritana Gate is one of the nicest buildings in the city and it looks great against the park.

I think the point is, though, that you are not a fan of modern architecture. I think you're just going to have to wait it out.

I think that one is too tall as it overlooks the trees in the park.

That building and Railway Square would look well somewhere like WIT campus, and if the put buildings like that on the site of the old W Crystal site I wouldn't object.

But in the Centre I think they take away from things like the Viking Wall, and Courthouse. I think the Strawberry Hill apartments aren't much to look at, but at least they are hidden away.

In terms of modern architecture, overall I think Cork Rd WIT looks well, but it wouldn't fit in with the city centre.

MitchKoobski

It's for TK Maxx most likely.
Not sure of names but whoever owns Waterford Shopping Centre complained about TK Maxx's current location because they got planning permission for heavy goods, not for clothes. They aren't selling heavy goods as we know. The owner only got around to complaining when they were denied planning permission for their own area in Lisduggan. Apparently the 'official complaint' was that they were taking business away from the city centre. The county council never should have given TK Maxx planning permission to begin with for that reason, but when the complaint was upheld by An Bord Planáile, no timeframe was given on when they had to leave the premises.
The 'hearsay' going around now is that TK Maxx will be moving into where Penney's is and possibly the Centra part too.

I sound like some sort of conspiracy theorist now...:(

Cabaal

dayshah wrote: »

Railway Square - Already looking dated.
.

Railway Square is like the Train Station, when it was built people thought it was modern looking but in the end it will turn into a hole.

As already stated Railway square already looks dated

jayboi

Ive never been a fan of high rise apartments they require huge levels of expensive maintenance that is just never done and building seem to gradually fall into disrepair.

I always said Railway square was too high, its too imposing on the surrounding buildings. Its way too close to the river as well.
All the footpaths seem to be loose anytime i go by.

Is the building owned by someone or is sold as units or what way is it set up?

Bards

jayboi wrote: »

Ive never been a fan of high rise apartments

How in God's name can you call Railway square High Rise????????

what is it 4 floors - 5 max (maybe 30 - 40 feet tall at it's highest point) are you seriously saying 3 floors should be the maximum build in the City.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-rise_buildings

jayboi

I was under the impressiion that at it tallest it has a ground floor and 6 levels of apartments i know it has staggered hights as well so it might effect peoples perceptions.

I wouldnt be goin by world standerds in my defination for example i would consider most the apartments at the end of O'Connel St to be high rise.

merlante

dayshah wrote: »

I think that one is too tall as it overlooks the trees in the park.

That building and Railway Square would look well somewhere like WIT campus, and if the put buildings like that on the site of the old W Crystal site I wouldn't object.

But in the Centre I think they take away from things like the Viking Wall, and Courthouse. I think the Strawberry Hill apartments aren't much to look at, but at least they are hidden away.

In terms of modern architecture, overall I think Cork Rd WIT looks well, but it wouldn't fit in with the city centre.

Skyscrapers overlook central park in New York, and the affect is magical.

The height of Maritana gate might be taller than trees, but set against the expanse of the park, it does not dominate. It's actually lovely walking through the park in the evening with the court house lit up on one side, Maritana gate in the corner, and St. Declans and De La Salle on the other side of the park.

The bottom line is, though, that nobody is building Georgian or Viking buildings anymore. And you can't expect the architects of the present to be held back by the past. What you have to strive for is a sensitive melding of styles, which will inevitable attract criticism one way or the other. If we want a living city, then we have to be prepared for towers and church spires not to dominate the skyline as they did in the middle ages. I for one would rather not live in a city whose potential is limited only to serving as a medieval town adapted for tourism. That's the way Kilkenny is going. I don't want to work as a tour guide thanks!

I think architecture is a question of taste anyhow. I don't think that the boom period will be remembered fondly for the enduring beauty of its buildings, but what are we supposed to do, ban all development until the fashion moves on? Also remember, many of these buildings will be redeveloped again in the next 20 years. Not because they'll be falling down, but because that's the way capitalism tends to work.

gscully

So anyway.... Sully, you mentioned something about planning applications in Railway Square?

Sully

gscully wrote: »

So anyway.... Sully, you mentioned something about planning applications in Railway Square?

Yeah, in my first post Nothing special anyway

Aquos76

On a similar note, anyone know who's going into the old world of wonder building, a lot of work been carried out there over the last week or two, only this week I saw a few jec vans (alarm company) in there too.

jayboi

Aquos76 wrote: »

On a similar note, anyone know who's going into the old world of wonder building, a lot of work been carried out there over the last week or two, only this week I saw a few jec vans (alarm company) in there too.

I think Bolands are putting in a temporary Audi garage in their. I think Tom Murphy lost the rights to sell them

munster_mafia

Tom Murphy is not doin service's anymore, still selling i believe.

Also im sure they originally had plannin permission for mezzanine level.

allthedoyles

munster_mafia wrote: »

Tom Murphy is not doin service's anymore, still selling i believe.

No surprise there - his prices are exhorbitant , and with 3/4 sales people sitting around all day reading newspapers and drinking coffee , I can't see the selling continuing much longer either .