Opera Centre seems to be going ahead......

martyc5674

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/3300-jobs-on-way-for-limerick-in-massive-city-centre-development-669315.html

moby2101

Great news, hopefully it will be the beginning of an invigorated Limerick for all who love to live and shop here.. badly needed for the local economy and the hinterland

DoYouEvenLift

If it's a nightmare to get in and out of in cars like most of Limerick is it'll be a painful failure

Roquentin

what are they building exactly?

Berty

Roquentin wrote: »

what are they building exactly?

Reading the story, revenue offices and student accommodation with only a request of "interest" from interested parties.

DeWinterZero

No building plans as yet.

They just announced that their looking for "expressions of interest" from anyone with money whose willing to build on a site in Limerick that comes guaranteed with two government tenants, the Revenue & the Education Dept.

dave 27

What I dont understand is why are the revenue comission moving across the road into that site? they want to knock the building theyre in once they move, why cant they stay where they are and reclad and do up the surrounding area of te building, that way your not losing any office space..doesnt make sence to me

Cookiemunster

dave 27 wrote: »

What I dont understand is why are the revenue comission moving across the road into that site? they want to knock the building theyre in once they move, why cant they stay where they are and reclad and do up the surrounding area of te building, that way your not losing any office space..doesnt make sence to me

Part of the 2030 plane is to knock Sarsfield House and Arthurs Quay and redevelop the whole area.

Special Circumstances

dave 27 wrote: »

What I dont understand is why are the revenue comission moving across the road into that site? they want to knock the building theyre in once they move, why cant they stay where they are and reclad and do up the surrounding area of te building, that way your not losing any office space..doesnt make sence to me

All evidence that the revenue building ever existed must be removed. This includes purging any historical references/photos etc. City hall to follow soon after hopefully.

sleepyman

This just seems to be a re announcement of the plans.No physical building work until 2017.

Cookiemunster

sleepyman wrote: »

This just seems to be a re announcement of the plans.No physical building work until 2017.

It's more than that this time. UL have actually announced what they're basing there, they already have the commitment from the Dept of Finance and they're actually officially looking for someone to build it. None of the previous ideas got anywhere near this stage.

zulutango

It's all very welcome. The devil will be in the detail, of course.

Wish they'd drop the silly 'Opera' centre name though. I guess that will fade away in time. Disappointing to see both the council and the university using that title though, but I guess it was to generate publicity/PR, which is what the announcement on Friday was all about.

squonk

Where does the Opera title come from? I must admit when I read the Breaking News article headline my first impression was that they were going to build an Opera House!

zulutango

squonk wrote: »

Where does the Opera title come from? I must admit when I read the Breaking News article headline my first impression was that they were going to build an Opera House!

The developer of the shopping centre monstrosity that was proposed for there in 2007 picked the name as a sop to the cultural heritage of the area. A world famous 19th Century opera singer called Catherine Hayes was born in one of the buildings on Patrick Street.

Special Circumstances

The journal.ie comment section was hilarious "rabble rabble homeless all that money on opera" "nobody in limerick will go to opera what a joke" "hope they get some good non opera gigs" "blah blah tax opera hospitals irish water".

Mr.H

Well to be fair its a ridiculous name. As someone who studies marketing it is definitely the opposite of what it should be and that's easily identifiable.

If its called the Opera Centre then a lot of people (mostly tourists) will think its an actual opera house. The same way if its called a supermarket I'm not going to expect it to be a homeless shelter.

When it comes to naming its is of the most important

They should have called it the Hayes Centre if they really wanted to honour the lady. Not the 'she had blue eyes centre'.

Ridiculous (/rant over)


On a similar not I was working for a company (doesn't matter who they are) who had a name that was very (lets say) Muslim orientated. Now I have no problem with any religion, in fact I have no time for any of them but that's beside the point. The problem with this company was it was failing to attract any non-Muslims to the organisation. They couldn't figure it out. It turned out that the name they chose was chosen because it sounded like an Irish word and they thought that was cool. Just because a name might sound cool, it really matters what it is. A name should be the identity of the business.

zulutango

The thing about this project is that it is such a mixed use development, that nobody can think of an easy name for it, so they go with the crass developer's one.

Special Circumstances

It's gonna bug me all afternoon now to figure out that company name Mr H.

Maybe they thought "Opera Lane" worked so well for Cork, why not Opera Centre? Although I do like the misspelling in the thread title - will think of it as the The Grand Ole Oprea from now on. Maybe they could get Gareth Brooks to open it?

Ah thread title changed.... oh well. No one else liking the idea of a wild west themed shopping centre? Horses tied to posts outside?

martyc5674

I like the name... And I don't think it needs to be named xxx shopping centre or the like to be successful.
But irish wire selling kitchens.. That's taking the mick!
Marty.

Mr.H

I guess by me rant all I meant was why not just think up of a name that defines what it is rather than trying to be unique. Finding a name is never easy for anything. Be it a company, building or even a child.

How about
Patrick street plaza
Catherine Hayes
The Treaty Centre
The Shannonside village
The Georgian Mall

So many different things that could define it and as a name, could be used as a selling point to big companies so we can give them confidence in what we are actually trying to bring to the city.

Could you imagine being on the Opera Centre's board. Going along to some company like M&S (as we cant stop talking about them here on boards ) and we say "we want you to be our flagship store for Limerick cities Opera centre"....................... Lets just say its not going to be without lots of (pointless) questions regarding the name and lots of explaining.

I like the idea of themed shopping centres. Very 'Westworld' (an amazing movie from the 70's for anyone too young to remember)

As for Garth there is no way he wouldn't open The Treaty Centre


*The company I was referring to working for was a Muslim name for God................ I'm sure you'll be able to guess at it. I don't think they will mind too much even though that is just part of their name

seachto7

It was supposed to be called the "Opera Centre"? A developer made up this name? A developer who went bust. So why is it still called the "Opera Centre"?

Berty

Maybe the council will have a public consultation on the name.

I.e Hire a Marketing Company to ask us a question the council could just ask us themselves. :rolleyes:

The council have previously asked the public for names in naming things, a mystery if they take anything on board or already have names pre destined for things but ask us to make us feel involved.

Mr.H

Oh sweet Jesus I just had an awful prediction.................................. The Denis O'Brien Centre

Iranoutofideas

Name it after JFK, sure that would never cause an argument in Limerick ....oh wait...

Roquentin

"The Paul o Connell Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too"

seachto7

Wayne Dundon Way

The Saint

(Keith) Earl's Court

osarusan

Limerick 21 shopping centre.

kilburn

Annie Fitz Memorial Quarter

Pure Mule

I thought Opera came from O'Connell St, Patrick St, Ellen st, Rutland st, Arthur's Quay

Poxyshamrock

I never noticed that! :eek:

Berty

It's not on the block(s) of O'Connell St though.

source

Beer Baron wrote: »

It's not on the block(s) of O'Connell St though.

Nor is it on Arthur's Quay. The streets around the development are:

Patrick Street, Rutland Street, Bank Place/Charlotte Quay, Michael Street and Ellen Street

ongarboy

http://www.independent.ie/business/commercial-property/150m-plan-for-limerick-site-has-14storey-tower-35876711.html
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/donal-odonovan-city-centre-needs-people-not-window-dressing-to-revive-its-fortunes-35876715.html
I thought it might be worth resurrecting this thread seeing the major announcement this week of a formal planning application being submitted to the council for this development.
What do folks think of the second article attached that suggests the development is too office based with not enough retail, social or cultural facilities to keep people in the city centre after 6pm during the week or at weekends?  I feel they could have incorporated more shopping units, restaurants, bars and maybe an arthouse cinema/theatre to give more diversity to the project for after hours.  Still an impressive proposal.

zulutango

The lack of a residential aspect is a glaring omission. The key to reviving the city centre is to get people living in it in high numbers. Office space is very important but that last thing we want is thousands of workers jamming into the city in the mornings and fleeing at 6pm. It's pretty much the current situation and it doesn't do much for the city centre.

Cookiemunster

zulutango wrote: »

The lack of a residential aspect is a glaring omission. The key to reviving the city centre is to get people living in it in high numbers. Office space is very important but that last thing we want is thousands of workers jamming into the city in the mornings and fleeing at 6pm. It's pretty much the current situation and it doesn't do much for the city centre.

I know it's a large presumption to me made with the record of LCCC, but maybe they have residential plans for the Cleaves site? Limerick 2030 have already said that it's the next one that they'll announce plans for.

dominatinMC

zulutango wrote: »

The lack of a residential aspect is a glaring omission. The key to reviving the city centre is to get people living in it in high numbers. Office space is very important but that last thing we want is thousands of workers jamming into the city in the mornings and fleeing at 6pm. It's pretty much the current situation and it doesn't do much for the city centre.

Fully agreed and, from what I've seen on social networking sites, plenty of other people seem to be expressing this exact same opinion. If the council won't directly provide residences, one would have to hope that private developers will see all this development as an opportunity to develop new sites/renovate existing premises to provide accommodation for all the new employees.

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote:

I know it's a large presumption to me made with the record of LCCC, but maybe they have residential plans for the Cleaves site? Limerick 2030 have already said that it's the next one that they'll announce plans for.

That isn't good enough though. If you want to regenerate the heart of the city centre then you have to have large numbers of people living in the heart of the city centre. Don't get me wrong, it'd be great if Cleeve's had a residential element and that will be good for the city but it would be even better if the Opera site had residential also. This is what was intended originally of course. I wonder what changed in the meantime.

Jofspring

One of the excuses on the radio yesterday morning was they aren't looking at residential there yet because it doesn't look great having people living with clothes outside apartments etc... in a place that they are looking for companies to set up offices.

Exeggcute

Our elected morons hard at work FFS

zulutango

Jofspring wrote:

One of the excuses on the radio yesterday morning was they aren't looking at residential there yet because it doesn't look great having people living with clothes outside apartments etc... in a place that they are looking for companies to set up offices.

Who said that?! I've never seen people hang clothes out on the balconies of the Strand apartments or the windows of Riverpoint.

johnmolloy554

zulutango wrote: »

Who said that?! I've never seen people hang clothes out on the balconies of the Strand apartments or the windows of Riverpoint.

The Strand apartments no, but there's always clothes horses and other shi*e in the windows of Riverpoint.

pigtown

Can you imagine the uproar if the city council were to build apartments to be sold for profit while the housing list is as long as it is? Accommodation is certainly going to be a major issue should all of these office blocks be occupied but I'm not sure the council is the best way to provide it, certainly not with their current housing model anyway.

dominatinMC

pigtown wrote: »

Can you imagine the uproar if the city council were to build apartments to be sold for profit while the housing list is as long as it is? Accommodation is certainly going to be a major issue should all of these office blocks be occupied but I'm not sure the council is the best way to provide it, certainly not with their current housing model anyway.

That's a good point actually. Maybe that's the underlying reason for their decision to remove the residential aspect from the proposal, and they can't publicly state it.

pigtown

I'd assume that's the case. I don't want to sound elitist but I don't think many people would fancy social housing as part of the city's flagship commercial development. I don't think the likes of Facebook or their equivalent would consider located their offices in such a location.

Poxyshamrock

zulutango wrote: »

Jofspring wrote:

One of the excuses on the radio yesterday morning was they aren't looking at residential there yet because it doesn't look great having people living with clothes outside apartments etc... in a place that they are looking for companies to set up offices.

Who said that?! I've never seen people hang clothes out on the balconies of the Strand apartments or the windows of Riverpoint.

It's forbidden to put a clotheshorse on the balcony in The Strand afaik.

Vanquished

pigtown wrote: »

Can you imagine the uproar if the city council were to build apartments to be sold for profit while the housing list is as long as it is? Accommodation is certainly going to be a major issue should all of these office blocks be occupied but I'm not sure the council is the best way to provide it, certainly not with their current housing model anyway.

I'm actually surprised that the AAA or whatever they call themselves these days haven't been campaigning for the entire site to be devoted to social housing!

Insect Overlord

Vanquished wrote: »

I'm actually surprised that the AAA or whatever they call themselves these days haven't been campaigning for the entire site to be devoted to social housing!

They're probably too busy celebrating the Jobstown Six result to campaign this week. :pac:

RINO87

What happened to the plans to house students from LIT/UL here??

Silentcorner

Actually, what you will find is that the market will attract investors and would have more confidence investing in a large scale residential complex, you would hope anyway, you would also hope that this time round our developers show a bit more ambition and build something that actually looks good and a place where people would live for more than 12 months...

We have two things going for us, we have no problem building high, and we have a city centre with plenty of potential sites...

zulutango

dominatinMC wrote:

That's a good point actually. Maybe that's the underlying reason for their decision to remove the residential aspect from the proposal, and they can't publicly state it.

Perhaps it is. I doubt it though. If they say they're looking at residential development for other strategic sites doesn't the same argument apply?

It's worth noting that the developer behind the Bishop's Quay project originally intended to have a greater balance between apartments and offices but the Council insisted it should be mostly offices. It's as if they don't see residential as important as office space, which really is a big mistake from an urban planning point of view.