€250m development boost for city centre

LIMERICK city centre has received another boost with confirmation yesterday that work on the massive Opera Centre development is to get underway in the new year.

Belfast businessman Suneil Sharma is behind the €250 million project.

The news came a day after it was announced that a €40m development is being planned for another location in the heart of the city.

The Opera Centre will cover a massive 400,000 square feet with frontage onto five streets which will include Rutland St, Patrick St, Ellen St, Michael St and Bank Place.

Pat Kearney, who heads Rooney Auctioneers, spent more than four years negotiating the purchase of properties with up to 40 landlords, owners and tenants.

Mr Kearney said: “This will be fantastic for the city and it will give Limerick a new national shopping focus.”

The Opera Centre development will take more than two years to complete and will feature spectacular elevated walkways encased in glass, linking various shopping locations within its parameters.

More than 1,200 people will be employed full-time in the centre.

It has been named after a famous Limerick opera singer, Catherine Hayes, who was born in Patrick Street and who sang for Queen Victoria in Buckingham Palace.

It is planned to preserve her old home at No 4 Patrick Street as a museum in her honour.

Mr Keogh, of Regeneration Developments, who is overseeing the huge development, said it was now all systems go with all planning requirements satisfied.

These include surveys and conservation reports on houses in Patrick Street.

Demolition work to clear the main site will commence in January.

Mr Keogh said: “Some adjustments will likely be made to the original state of the art plans, because additional properties have come into the scheme. Some plans will be amended and we hope that this will not cause any delays. This will be a huge boost to the regeneration of the heart of the city.”

A report on the revitalisation of the city centre published last week warned that the city centre was in urgent need of massive development of its retail sector.

The report, co-authored by the former president of the University of Limerick Dr Ed Walsh, stated that the city centre retail sector had, to an unprecedented scale, fallen behind the suburban shopping areas.

It called for an iconic development of the Arthur’s Quay Park area which is adjacent to where the Opera Centre stands.