A long-awaited €200 million development of part of Limerick city centre, described as the “Opera Site”, will begin in the autumn, and create 3,000 jobs, which it is hoped will “kick-start” the city’s economic recovery.
The site was acquired by Limerick City Council in 2011 after a previous plan to develop it failed during the mid-2000s economic crash, and was subsequently handed over to Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC – a development company set up and owned by the council.
Planning permission for the project was granted by An Bord Pleanála in February of this year following an oral hearing.
The announcement today of the appointment of Cogent Associates, which oversaw Central Bank and Google’s EMEA HQ project, as the Opera Site’s project managers, is seen as a significant step forward in commencing the development.
Recovery
Limerick 2030 chief executive David Conway said the development “will trigger the most important and timely economic stimulant of modern times in the city, and allow Limerick to kick-start the Covid-19 economic recovery”.
The 3.7 acre “mixed use” development is fully funded thanks in the main to loans from the European Investment Bank and the Council of European Development Bank – and is set to be delivered over a six-year period.
It is hoped the massive development, which will include a new public square with pedestrian links to the city, will place Limerick as an attractive location for companies exiting the United Kingdom due to Brexit.
The site was valued at more than €100 million at the height of the boom but the council purchased it for €12 million in 2011 following the economic crash.
Managing director of Cogent Associates Kevin James said, “ . . . Not alone is Opera of huge significance to Limerick but by virtue of what it will do for the regional economy in the mid-west, it will have national significance. It is a ‘key-note’ development in line with the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland 2040 plans.”