Limerick improvement projects

Cookiemunster

panda100 wrote: »

+1 I used to love going to the cinema in the Savoy. It was so handy compared to having to drive all the way out to the odeon or crescent. It's pretty poor that we don't have any cinema in town most other Irish cities do.

It used to be great that you could go to the cinema on a Friday or Saturday night and then go for a few drinks. A city center cinema is sorely missed, but with the 3 multiplexes on the outskirts I don't think that the business would be there to bring one back into the city center.

MrJones2013

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Why would they do that when you can locate somewhere like Childers Road or the Crescent which are only out the road and have ample parking

Should have left the Savoy cinema there, would have provided plenty of footfall for that area especially in the evenings and probably could have attracted shops to locate around the area given that people would be in town later then 6pm.

panda100 wrote: »

+1 I used to love going to the cinema in the Savoy. It was so handy compared to having to drive all the way out to the odeon or crescent. It's pretty poor that we don't have any cinema in town most other Irish cities do.

Agree with you both here, it would be great to have a cinema in the city centre, restaurants could do deals similar to what Del Arte offer in the crescent.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote:

It used to be great that you could go to the cinema on a Friday or Saturday night and then go for a few drinks. A city center cinema is sorely missed, but with the 3 multiplexes on the outskirts I don't think that the business would be there to bring one back into the city center.

There were 14 cinemas in Limerick City Centre before, and they were sustained because people lived in or near the city centre. Since the 70's there's been a 'white flight' of the middle classes to the new suburbs. Something like 50% of the population now lives out there and these are the people with spending power. That's why we don't have cinemas in the city centre any more and why it's a struggle for high end retailers to survive in it. If we're to change the fortunes of the city centre then we must reverse the trend of the past 40 years and get large numbers of people living in or near the centre again. It's a huge challenge but it has been done, closer to home as much as elsewhere. Dublin had the same problem in the 80's with an exodus from the centre. Since then there's been a total reversal of the trend with four times as many people living in the centre now as were living there 30 years ago. We just have to acknowledge that this is the problem in Limerick and then we'll make some progress.

Parchment

I drive all the way to the other side of the city to use the Odeon - not the plushest cinema but seems to have the most "normal" customer group. The Crescent is a joke - people talking/shouting in the cinema constantly. Showtime is a really nice and comfortable cinema but a certain group of people seem to be frequenting it now and i prefer not to listen to them talking to each other, reading subtitles to each other or talking on phones. Staff never stop it so i dont bother going there anymore. Its a pity.

panda100

Parchment wrote:

Showtime is a really nice and comfortable cinema but a certain group of people seem to be frequenting it now and i prefer not to listen to them talking to each other, reading subtitles to each other or talking on phones. Staff never stop it so i dont bother going there anymore. Its a pity.

Yes it's very annoying when people use their phone constantly, loudly rustle and eat their food in the cinema. I had similar issue while trying to relax and watch a film in belltable recently

zulutango

panda100 wrote: »

Yes it's very annoying when people use their phone constantly, loudly rustle and eat their food in the cinema. I had similar issue while trying to relax and watch a film in belltable recently

Can you even buy food in the Belltable? Last time I was there they only had twixes and snickers. The movie was terrible too.

johnnyryan89

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

There's ample parking in the city centre as well in case you didn't know. Not to mention the 8 or so bus routes that all converge on the centre.

I know there is, pass them everyday strolling to work but unlike Childers Road or Crescent you have to pay for parking in the city and people will normally choose somewhere with free parking because it means you can grab a bite to eat or coffee while shopping and not worry about getting a parking ticket or pay two something an hour to park.

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It used to be great that you could go to the cinema on a Friday or Saturday night and then go for a few drinks. A city center cinema is sorely missed, but with the 3 multiplexes on the outskirts I don't think that the business would be there to bring one back into the city center.

You'd be surprised, offer people something that the other cinemas don't and people might go to it. Having restaurants, take aways, pubs and Starbucks could get people into a city centre cinema with the option of having a few pints and bringing food home with you.

Cookiemunster

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

You'd be surprised, offer people something that the other cinemas don't and people might go to it. Having restaurants, take aways, pubs and Starbucks could get people into a city centre cinema with the option of having a few pints and bringing food home with you.

Thats great for Fridays and Saturdays, but what about the rest of the week? When most people live near the other 3 they're not going to venture into the city center to go to the cinema during the week.

johnnyryan89

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Thats great for Fridays and Saturdays, but what about the rest of the week? When most people live near the other 3 they're not going to venture into the city center to go to the cinema during the week.

Do the discount rate that showtime do on a Tuesday and Wednesday. A movie club watch old films out in the Odeon once a month on a Monday night and meet up in the hurlers for few drinks and food, crowd like that would be easily attracted to a city centre cinema.

I'm sure there's probably other ideas just gotta do something different. With showtime only out the road it would be competing with that and I don't think showtime do that much business apart from Tuesdays and Wednesdays or when big movies come out.

crusha101

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/207216/Costcutter-to-open-new-Limerick-store.html

whats the overall verdict on this move ?

wigsa100

crusha101 wrote: »

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/207216/Costcutter-to-open-new-Limerick-store.html

whats the overall verdict on this move ?

I would rather have something there than nothing. City centre retailers seem to have a warped opinion about what the city offers at the moment. It's fine to say "we want places like TopShop", but if there's nothing to attract them in, they're not coming.

I know for a fact that M&S were invited to to set up in the city centre a few times and have categorically rejected it every time. The closest they've come is the Horizon Mall by the Parkway, which seems like it's going to fall through now as well because of objections from city centre retailers.

I find it funny that the trader interviewed said the retailers' lobby was weak seeing as they pretty much single handedly stopped a project that was going to create over 1,000 jobs on the city's doorstep. If they couldn't see the benefit that alone would bring to the city, I wouldn't be very confident that they have a reasonable outlook.

In my humble opinion, the key to making Limerick the place it has the potential to be is a transformation of the Georgian quarter. The Living City Initiative, as we know, has been a disaster, with only one application made. Surely more can be done to reinvigorate what is a very unique and beautiful area by any standards that just needs a bit of TLC.

zulutango

crusha101 wrote: »

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/207216/Costcutter-to-open-new-Limerick-store.html

whats the overall verdict on this move ?

"Trader Helen O’Donnell says she is “disappointed” another food store is going into the city centre.

Limerick is quite well served by supermarkets considering there is quite a low percentage of people living in the city centre,” she said"

There's the problem, right there ...

zulutango

wigsa100 wrote: »

In my humble opinion, the key to making Limerick the place it has the potential to be is a transformation of the Georgian quarter. The Living City Initiative, as we know, has been a disaster, with only one application made. Surely more can be done to reinvigorate what is a very unique and beautiful area by any standards that just needs a bit of TLC.

Fully agree with this. The Living Cities Initiative was barking up the wrong tree. We won't attract people to live in the city centre simply because there's some tax rebates on offer. There's a heap of other reasons why the city is unattractive to most people.

If you basically banned traffic (for the most part) from all of the Georgian part of Limerick, and turned the streets into 'liveable, family friendly streets' then you'd have a transformation of the city within a few years. People would be queuing up to buy and renovate properties, and you wouldn't need any schemes like The Living Cities Initiative. Limerick City Centre could be the most attractive, desireable place to live in the the country if we grasped that nettle.

wigsa100

zulutango wrote: »

If you basically banned traffic (for the most part) from all of the Georgian part of Limerick, and turned the streets into 'liveable, family friendly streets' then you'd have a transformation of the city within a few years. People would be queuing up to buy and renovate properties, and you wouldn't need any schemes like The Living Cities Initiative. Limerick City Centre could be the most attractive, desireable place to live in the the country if we grasped that nettle.

That's an interesting idea. My concern would be that because sections of the Georgian quarter are already quite undesirable, a lack of traffic passing through those areas would leave them vulnerable to being used for nefarious activities that are at least pushed off the streets at the moment because they area is relatively busy?

For example, I have seen people openly dealing drugs on High St in the middle of the day. What made it worse was that there was a child with them, watching the whole thing. I realise High St is particularly ****, but I have an acquaintance who used to work out of an office in Catherine Place.

I mentioned I was trying to view a property in the area, and he said there were people dealing drugs out of a good chunk of the apartments on the street, without much regard for being seen by anyone. Is there a possibility that there would be even less regard for the law if the area was quieter?

zulutango

wigsa100 wrote: »

That's an interesting idea. My concern would be that because sections of the Georgian quarter are already quite undesirable, a lack of traffic passing through those areas would leave them vulnerable to being used for nefarious activities that are at least pushed off the streets at the moment because they area is relatively busy?

For example, I have seen people openly dealing drugs on High St in the middle of the day. What made it worse was that there was a child with them, watching the whole thing. I realise High St is particularly ****, but I have an acquaintance who used to work out of an office in Catherine Place.

I mentioned I was trying to view a property in the area, and he said there were people dealing drugs out of a good chunk of the apartments on the street, without much regard for being seen by anyone. Is there a possibility that there would be even less regard for the law if the area was quieter?

At the moment the city centre is just not attractive for people to live in it. Demand is low and so the rents are really low. Low rents result in the worst class of tenant, and then that leads to social problems, which in turn make these places less attractive places to live. It's a spiral of economic and social decay and Limerick city centre is well down that spiral.

The good news is that it can be reversed fairly easily. All we have to do is make the streets attractive places and everything will naturally follow from there. You'll find people will start to consider the city centre a place worth living in. It'll happen in phases. Younger people initially, then professionals, then families. The rents will increase and therefore the value of buildings will increase accordingly. Once that happens then renovation costs are no longer outlandish. You'll also get developers stepping in and looking to build high end apartments.

None of this is wishful thinking. It's been proven to work all over Europe in cities with challenges as great or greater than Limerick's.

johnnyryan89

wigsa100 wrote: »

That's an interesting idea. My concern would be that because sections of the Georgian quarter are already quite undesirable, a lack of traffic passing through those areas would leave them vulnerable to being used for nefarious activities that are at least pushed off the streets at the moment because they area is relatively busy?

For example, I have seen people openly dealing drugs on High St in the middle of the day. What made it worse was that there was a child with them, watching the whole thing. I realise High St is particularly ****, but I have an acquaintance who used to work out of an office in Catherine Place.

I mentioned I was trying to view a property in the area, and he said there were people dealing drugs out of a good chunk of the apartments on the street, without much regard for being seen by anyone. Is there a possibility that there would be even less regard for the law if the area was quieter?

Increased gaurds patrolling the street would be one way of dealing with this which would then help with making the place more desirable as was mentioned.

zulutango wrote: »

None of this is wishful thinking. It's been proven to work all over Europe in cities with challenges as great or greater than Limerick's.

Only problem there is the rest of Europe isn't run by Limerick CC. I don't know about other cities in Ireland and even take Dublin out of the equation because being the capital it's easier to market the place but with Limerick CC and Limerick politicians it seems that all they do is say this needs to be done and that needs to be done and then hope that somebody else does it for them.

You always hear them say that Limerick needs higher end retailers in the city centre to help get it thriving but do nothing about it hoping that these higher end retailers just locate here and try and solve the problem for them instead of asking why don't ye wanna locate here and maybe we can do something to help ye.

Maybe they do actually communicate with these companies and just keep it hush but being more open and actually telling the people look we are trying to get shops and companies to locate here but we need to work certain things out before they can then a lot of people would be more happy instead of the attitude that they do **** all.

zulutango

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

... but with Limerick CC and Limerick politicians it seems that all they do is say this needs to be done and that needs to be done and then hope that somebody else does it for them.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the politicians have any relevance in this.

The management of the city is outside of their hands. Bad and all as the politicians are (and many are pretty bad!), the real power rests with the senior executives, many of them largely unknown by the general public. These are the people who are failing the city, in my opinion.

jbkenn

For those of you hoping the Council would focus more office development in the city.
The Council today 11/05/2016 granted permission to Wychwood Properties Ltd. for
"the construction of an extension of 7,125sq.metres of office accommodation (including the provision of an electrical sub station & switch room), all associated site works and for alterations to layout and elevations southern staircore of development as granted planning permission under reference 15/95 (currently under construction" at City East Plaza, Towlerton, Ballysimon
http://eplan.limerick.ie/AppFileRefDetails/1670/0

Vanquished

jbkenn wrote: »

For those of you hoping the Council would focus more office development in the city.
The Council today 11/05/2016 granted permission to Wychwood Properties Ltd. for
"the construction of an extension of 7,125sq.metres of office accommodation (including the provision of an electrical sub station & switch room), all associated site works and for alterations to layout and elevations southern staircore of development as granted planning permission under reference 15/95 (currently under construction" at City East Plaza, Towlerton, Ballysimon
http://eplan.limerick.ie/AppFileRefDetails/1670/0

This is a 7 floor extension to the existing City East Plaza office complex at the Garryglass roundabout.

Given that Northern Trust are consolidating their operations at this location and with the commitment to further job creation it's not really a surprise that this project has been approved.

Poxyshamrock

jbkenn wrote: »

For those of you hoping the Council would focus more office development in the city.
The Council today 11/05/2016 granted permission to Wychwood Properties Ltd. for
"the construction of an extension of 7,125sq.metres of office accommodation (including the provision of an electrical sub station & switch room), all associated site works and for alterations to layout and elevations southern staircore of development as granted planning permission under reference 15/95 (currently under construction" at City East Plaza, Towlerton, Ballysimon
http://eplan.limerick.ie/AppFileRefDetails/1670/0

Yeah, I spotted that on Healy's Facebook page. So strange. I thought the council had some city development plan they couldn't go against. It's such a terrible location for such nice offices. All those people working in town could do wonders for the place but no, we'll stick them in what is essentially an industrial estate on the edge of the city.

Bored_lad

It is not feasible for someone like Northern Trust to be in town. Firstly show me an office space in town the size of the campus they have. Secondly where would all these extra workers park? Yes you need people working in the city and jobs but Limerick City in its current state could not handle a all of Northern Trust.

Vanquished

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Yeah, I spotted that on Healy's Facebook page. So strange. I thought the council had some city development plan they couldn't go against. It's such a terrible location for such nice offices. All those people working in town could do wonders for the place but no, we'll stick them in what is essentially an industrial estate on the edge of the city.

It is a horrible location and I'd hate to work out there but sadly there isn't an office complex in the city centre at the moment that can accommodate the 600 or 700 employees at Northern Trust. This is due to increase to 1000 by the end of next year as well.

It would of course be preferable for those jobs to be based in the city centre but that horse has bolted now and we need to see the likes of the hanging gardens development coming on stream as quickly as possible. We badly need to see the return of private commercial investment also!

Poxyshamrock

Bored_lad wrote: »

It is not feasible for someone like Northern Trust to be in town. Firstly show me an office space in town the size of the campus they have. Secondly where would all these extra workers park? Yes you need people working in the city and jobs but Limerick City in its current state could not handle a all of Northern Trust.

I know we don't have office space in town to accommodate Northern Trust but City East Plaza didn't either and someone has decided to build it. It's now going into its 3rd phase. Why is this level of construction not happening in the city centre?

marno21

The City East Plaza is approx 1km away from a motorway interchange and is located along the N24. It's an ideal location for car commuting. My only wish is that they would build a freeflow lane from the L5173 Groody Rd to the outbound R527 route so traffic in the evening could bypass the roundabout as with University, Castletroy & all this extra traffic the roundabout will become a mess.

Poxyshamrock

Bored_lad wrote: »

It is not feasible for someone like Northern Trust to be in town. Firstly show me an office space in town the size of the campus they have. Secondly where would all these extra workers park? Yes you need people working in the city and jobs but Limerick City in its current state could not handle a all of Northern Trust.

I know we don't have office space in town to accommodate Northern Trust but City East Plaza didn't either and someone has decided to build it. It's now going into its 3rd phase. Why is this level of construction not happening in the city centre?

Cookiemunster

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I know we don't have office space in town to accommodate Northern Trust but City East Plaza didn't either and someone has decided to build it. It's now going into its 3rd phase. Why is this level of construction not happening in the city centre?

It was a green field development. Where do you propose that such a large development is built in the city?

zulutango

In an ideal world they could live in the city centre and then they wouldn't need cars.

We're a bit away from that yet but we have to move in that direction. The quality of accommodation on offer in the city centre leaves much to be desired. It's not an unfixable problem though.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote:

It was a green field development. Where do you propose that such a large development is built in the city?

There are a hell of a lot of brownfield sites in the city centre. They're all over the place though. Moves could certainly be made to prepare a few large vacant sites for development of this kind of facility.

Poxyshamrock

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It was a green field development. Where do you propose that such a large development is built in the city?

Plenty of brown field sites around...with the help of a few CPOs.

Dunnes Stores/Liddy Street
Hanging Gardens.
ESB site
Steamboat Quay.
Sarsfield House
Opera Site
Arthurs Quay
That carpark between Denmark Street and Ellen Street.

Time to build up as well.

Cookiemunster

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Plenty of brown field sites around...with the help of a few CPOs.

Dunnes Stores/Liddy Street
Hanging Gardens.
ESB site
Steamboat Quay.
Sarsfield House
Opera Site
Arthurs Quay
That carpark between Denmark Street and Ellen Street.

Time to build up as well.

This was a private development. Private companies can't CPO land and the council can't by everything despite buying the Hanging Gardens and the Opera Center.