Opera Centre For Sale

ABEasy

Not sure if this has been posted and sorry for dragging this up again (sick to death of this drama myself). So anyone got 12.5m floating about, loss for Anglo of €97.5m (before fees) if they get the asking which they probably won't.

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/business/limerick_s_opera_centre_site_on_the_market_1_3098962

Raiser

Anglo Irish WBankers - The reason every Irish Child for the next 200 years will be educated in a prefab and also why we will probably die on a trolley in a draughty Hospital corridor........

Kess73

Raiser wrote: »

Anglo Irish WBankers - The reason every Irish Child for the next 200 years will be educated in a prefab and also why we will probably die on a trolley in a draughty Hospital corridor........

With the amount of vomiting bugs and other bugs floating around the filthy regional, as reported again this week after another big outbreak within the hospital, you probably would not last long enough to be put onto a trolley.;)

goingpostal

A loss of 97.5m for Anglo = 97.5m of taxpayers money up in smoke = crappy hospitals + kids being educated in a field.

kenoconnell

goingpostal wrote: »

A loss of 97.5m for Anglo = 97.5m of taxpayers money up in smoke = crappy hospitals + kids being educated in a field.

Better than 98......

How f**k'd up are things when thats me post!!!!!!

munstergirl

On live 95fm, an offer has been made on opera centre. No other info like who, how much.

Wander will they accept or wait for better offer

Cpt_Blackbeard

Its embarrassing that a huge plot of land in the centre of the city can be valued so lowly. Further proof of the hole that the city has become.

Kess73

munstergirl wrote: »

On live 95fm, an offer has been made on opera centre. No other info like who, how much.

Wander will they accept or wait for better offer

They won't get much better than my offer of six selection boxes and twelve packs of Walkers.

I expect confirmation of an acceptance of my offer soon. Then construction of Kess Town will begin. :pac::pac:

bazz26

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Its embarrassing that a huge plot of land in the centre of the city can be valued so lowly. Further proof of the hole that the city has become.

On the contrary, the days of paying stupid money for a plot of land are well and truely over irrespective of what part of the country it is in. Better to sell it at a low price and someone developes it into something useful rather than leave it sit there as a health hazzard and eye sore hoping for prices to go back up to the dissy hights of the overinflated building boom years.

Seamus B

JP Should buy it, Well he did donate a few thousand to paint all the buildings. He must have some interest.

Berty

Whoever buys it I hope they retain the old Town Hall building. To hell with the rest.

Cost of Land & Buildlings affordable.
Cost of knocking them down and buildling something new - Incredible(in these times)

Considering a Ukranian bought an Apartment in London for €157,000,000 and has spent £60,000,000 on the interior it shows there is a lot of stupid money out there. :eek:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews/8456089/UKs-most-expensive-flat-sold-for-135.4-million.html

sonyair

just announced on live 95fm that the state have bought the site with the city council and the regeneration in charge to change it to commercial, housing and more.

Seamus B

Such a waste if its not developed as a shopping centre, look at the return the state would get in the future from rent.

Kess73

sonyair wrote: »

just announced on live 95fm that the state have bought the site with the city council and the regeneration in charge to change it to commercial, housing and more.

What a shame. Given the lack of money the city council have, and the lack of progress Limerick Regeneration have made in their own work to date, I don't hold out much hope for anything major being done to the site in terms of something that would bring in serious numbers to the city centre.

At best I see the buildings being cleaned up inside and the small units that were there being offered as available to rent again.

Guess all the headlines in the Limerick Leader and the Limerick Post about how certain developers were just about to buy it, and comments from certain members of city council along the same lines were the usual bluff and bluster.

Big blow to the redevelopment of the city centre methinks

h3000

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/business/opera_centre_site_bought_by_limerick_city_council_1_3262927

THE Limerick Leader can confirm that Limerick City Council have bought the Opera Centre site with funds made available from the Department of the Environment’s Regeneration budget.

The announcement has been confirmed by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan this Friday afternoon, who said he hopes “it will get life back into the centre of the city.”

“Regeneration means more than regenerating the suburbs with social problems,” the Minister told this newspaper. “The biggest regeneration challenge in Limerick is to regenerate the city centre. We were afraid the Opera site would go to a developer who would sit on it for 20 or 30 years and we’d be left with all this dereliction, with no possibility of developing it,” he said.

Minister Noonan said the department had funds left over from its Regeneration budget this year, which they allocated to Limerick City Council to purchase the site from the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA).

He said an urban development plan will be drawn up for the site in three months, which is expected to become “a commercial, cultural and social hub.”

“Obviously we’ve only ideas yet, but we want to get the professionals in, and plan the whole area from the docklands right across.”

It is understood the council have been in discussions with the University of Limerick and Limerick Institute of Technology regarding having student residencies in the massive complex.

The sale was concluded this evening.

Peter O’Meara, the agent in Cork with Savills, said he was “delighted” the sale had gone through, which he said is “great for Limerick.”

While the cost of buying the site has not been revealed, it had been reduced in price to €12.5m, after its value plummeted from over €100m a number of years ago.

A statement is expected shortly from the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.

FOR MORE SEE THE MONDAY EDITION OF THE LIMERICK LEADER

The Snipe

kenoconnell wrote: »

Better than 98......

How f**k'd up are things when thats me post!!!!!!

Age is getting to you Ken, it was 95 for you

ABEasy

Sorry for dragging up an old tread, just seen that after forking out 12.5m for the Opera Centre the councils grand plan for the site is...................







wait for it....................








to fire it up on Daft as 'To Let'.

That's it, all this rubbish from Gilligan and his cronies about the parkway development (aka the crane centre) destroying their plans for the Opera Centre and they decide to put an entire city block up to let. Really that's it, no redevelopment, no planning, no grand scheme, no direction. Worst is I'm not surprised! Really what world do they live in!! 12.5m in reduced rates would go a long way to helping struggling city centre businesses survive!!

Mods don't have link to daft advert (on mobile), I'll try fire up a link later.



Edit: they didn't even use a local auctioneer, using Dublin based firm!!!

Kess73

It has been on Daft for a few months now. The ad has probably just been updated.


Joe Leddin has been pushing for any of the units that are safe there to be reopened and used as starter units to give start up businesses a stepping stone.

ABEasy

Kess73 wrote: »

Joe Leddin has been pushing for any of the units that are safe there to be reopened and used as starter units to give start up businesses a stepping stone.

But that's not what they are doing! They have it with Savills as a single unit!

Kess73

ABEasy wrote: »

But that's not what they are doing! They have it with Savills as a single unit!

I know that. That was also one of the points that Leddin in fairness to him was making.

His arguement seems to be rather than let it sit idle, have start up businesses and similar using the safe empty units to get themselves off the ground until they are ready to move into other premises or until the time comes that construction work is ready to start.

It has been advertised with Savills within a few weeks of it becoming city council property, and just think we are not long now from the time that Arthurs quay SC comes under the control of the same city council/authorities.

europa11

Sooner that whole block (minus The Granary) is flatttened and turned into a temporary car park the better.

And I'd include the old City Hall building in that demolition, tbh a European-style Plaza surrounded by small units with apartments overhead and a tie-in/extension of the Market there might prove a better focal point than the on again-off again saga about yet another shopping mall. ffs Arthurs' Quay is hardly 60% occupied (outside the anchor tenant) as things are.

As for opening units for small businesses in the ridiculously titled "Opera Centre" site, Joe Leddin might have a good idea there in principle, but if he really wants to help small traders in the city, he might instead do something more immediate and address the issue of rates imposed by his Council which are crippling and closing outlets everywhere else in town.

Kess73

europa11 wrote: »

Sooner that whole block (minus The Granary) is flatttened and turned into a temporary car park the better.

And I'd include the old City Hall building in that demolition, tbh a European-style Plaza surrounded by small units with apartments overhead and a tie-in/extension of the Market there might prove a better focal point than the on again-off again saga about yet another shopping mall. ffs Arthurs' Quay is hardly 60% occupied (outside the anchor tenant) as things are.

As for opening units for small businesses in the ridiculously titled "Opera Centre" site, Joe Leddin might have a good idea there in principle, but if he really wants to help small traders in the city, he might instead do something more immediate and address the issue of rates imposed by his Council which are crippling and closing outlets everywhere else in town.

He has actually been quite vocal on that for about 24 months now. He stands out on that for me as he is one of very few who actually bring it up on a regular basis.

europa11

Well fair dues to him then. One of few i'd imagine so, given that most Cllr's. have their heads stuck up their own holes most days.

Kess73

Yeah it was the fact he made a number of common sense suggestions that made him stand out. Really says a lot about the system when a guy saying stuff what they all should be saying and acting upon, stands out for doing so.

schmaire

europa11 wrote: »

Sooner that whole block (minus The Granary) is flatttened and turned into a temporary car park the better.

And I'd include the old City Hall building in that demolition, tbh a European-style Plaza surrounded by small units with apartments overhead and a tie-in/extension of the Market there might prove a better focal point than the on again-off again saga about yet another shopping mall. ffs Arthurs' Quay is hardly 60% occupied (outside the anchor tenant) as things are.

As for opening units for small businesses in the ridiculously titled "Opera Centre" site, Joe Leddin might have a good idea there in principle, but if he really wants to help small traders in the city, he might instead do something more immediate and address the issue of rates imposed by his Council which are crippling and closing outlets everywhere else in town.

Are you for real? If you don't like finding a car park space ( which there are plenty of ) buy a bike. For you to say that they should knock a whole Georgian block for a car park is laughable

Louche Lad

schmaire wrote: »

Are you for real? If you don't like finding a car park space ( which there are plenty of ) buy a bike. For you to say that they should knock a whole Georgian block for a car park is laughable

Exactly.

touts

I would be surprised if any of the units in there are still usable. They were gutted of anything useful when the previous tenants left and have been sitting empty and unmaintained through some horrific winter weather. They will be damp, smelly, in need of painting/fitting and quite possibly infested with vermin (four legged, winged and human).

The council need a better plan than ”oops lets pretend the last 3 years never happened”. They need to spend a few million on the whole block before putting units out to rent. But the money isnt there so they have one hell of a dilema. All this talk of renting it is the council desperately trying to look like they are doing something with
local elections coming up next year.
And no. There is no way in hell they will be allowed level a major block of georgian buildings for a park or carpark.

So basically until they get someone who is willing to finish the whole thing leaving the existing facade it is just going to sit idle. God only knows when that will be.

phog

europa11 wrote: »

Sooner that whole block (minus The Granary) is flatttened and turned into a temporary car park the better.

Why would anyone want the georgian buildings knocked, hasn't Limerick lost enough of it's character?

ShaneMc2012

I thought I read in the Limerick Post that the owner of Arthurs Quay (Tiernan Properties i think?) or some middle eastern investor was going to buy the place? And I was thinking I read that recently! Obviously not if the least productive city council in Ireland has the place now.

Savage Henry

The place will probably collapse onto Patrick Street before the council do anything productive with it.

Kess73

touts wrote: »

I would be surprised if any of the units in there are still usable. They were gutted of anything useful when the previous tenants left and have been sitting empty and unmaintained through some horrific winter weather. They will be damp, smelly, in need of painting/fitting and quite possibly infested with vermin (four legged, winged and human).

The council need a better plan than ”oops lets pretend the last 3 years never happened”. They need to spend a few million on the whole block before putting units out to rent. But the money isnt there so they have one hell of a dilema. All this talk of renting it is the council desperately trying to look like they are doing something with
local elections coming up next year.
And no. There is no way in hell they will be allowed level a major block of georgian buildings for a park or carpark.

So basically until they get someone who is willing to finish the whole thing leaving the existing facade it is just going to sit idle. God only knows when that will be.

Not true. The press release in the last week says they have €6 million over two years for the entore Opera centre project.

Kess73

ShaneMc2012 wrote: »

I thought I read in the Limerick Post that the owner of Arthurs Quay (Tiernan Properties i think?) or some middle eastern investor was going to buy the place? And I was thinking I read that recently! Obviously not if the least productive city council in Ireland has the place now.

Yes one of the city council mouthpieces came out and namechecked yet another developer that is on the cusp of taking over the project and building there. Pretty much the same thing was said about four times last year with a different developer mentioned each time. With one of the mouthpieces coming out and claiming that developer X is just about to start work and look at how great we all are.

europa11

schmaire wrote: »

Are you for real? If you don't like finding a car park space ( which there are plenty of ) buy a bike. For you to say that they should knock a whole Georgian block for a car park is laughable

A rat infested tumbling down Georgian block which up until recently had trees growing out of it to be correct, hardly a habitable building left on Patrick or Ellen Street by now.

What's so damn precious about that? "Part of what we were" is fine if you preserve and maintain it, letting it rot and decay is supposed to do what exactly?

I worked for a time when I could see for myself the state of the backs of those buildings on Rutland/Patrick and Ellen Streets at first hand. At that time many were still occupied (prob. 12 or so years ago), even then the state of the place was hardly what I'd have called pristine.

If we were so tied to the notion of preserving our Georgain heritage then we have a funny way of showing it.

Look down O'Connell Street sometime from say Cecil Street corner. Where is the symmetry of the original? Long gone. Take a walk up Catherine Street (crumbling in places) or William Street, where most upper floors are mainly uninhabitable. there are examples all over, Wickham & High Streets others that comes to mind. Limerick has knocked down plenty of Georgian houses and blocks in the past, what's so wonderful about this one? The boarded up windows?

The only Georgian area worth preserving is in the general vicinity of The Crescent / Upr. O'Connell St. and Pery Square areas imo.

As for wanting a "car park" at the comic-opera site, I meant tempoarily, if you bothered to read my post you'll have noted I would like to see an open market trading area/European style Plaza there eventually, rather than another glasshouse shopping mall.

And I have a bike, thanks.

schmaire

Europa are you really so narrow minded that you feel that the block should be demolished when it is not beyond salvation. the next generation will be cursing our actions if we demolish the block rather than putting effort into restoring it. You say yourself that o'connell street etc are in an awful state but yet you wish to do the exact same with patrick street. Think of the bishop's palace 30 years ago, it was a shell. I would say that patrick street is in a lot better nick than a shell! We could make Patrick street a place worth preserving on par with pery square etc.
P.S I did bother to read your post but merely disregarded it as I find it useless to even discuss a european style plaza if you wish to knock historic buildings encompassing it, where in europe do you see that!

Kess73

schmaire wrote: »

Europa are you really so narrow minded that you feel that the block should be demolished when it is not beyond salvation. the next generation will be cursing our actions if we demolish the block rather than putting effort into restoring it. You say yourself that o'connell street etc are in an awful state but yet you wish to do the exact same with patrick street. Think of the bishop's palace 30 years ago, it was a shell. I would say that patrick street is in a lot better nick than a shell! We could make Patrick street a place worth preserving on par with pery square etc.
P.S I did bother to read your post but merely disregarded it as I find it useless to even discuss a european style plaza if you wish to knock historic buildings encompassing it, where in europe do you see that!

Actually the initial surveyor reports from when work was originally was meant to start disagrees with you somewhat. A number of the buildings were listed to be destroyed as they were deemed unsafe to try and build around/onto