Fears mall will harm Limerick city plan

Suneil Sharma is a businessman not known to the wider Limerick public. While Limerick has been very good to Mr Sharma, some, specifically Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Chamber of Commerce and the Limerick Business Association are beginning to question if Mr Sharma will be as good for Limerick.

Mon, 01 Jun, 2015 - 01:00

Jimmy Woulfe

Suneil Sharma’s profile will become better known as the man who is about to bring Marks & Spencer to Limerick.

M&S will open its biggest outlet outside of Dublin in the new Horizon Mall shopping centre which An Bord Pleanála recently gave approval to after fierce opposition from Limerick City and County Council and city business groups.

The Horizon Mall, covering almost 64,000 sq m, will be built on a site near the Parkway roundabout on the Dublin Road.

City Hall says the development flies in the face of the overall development plan for the city which provides for a new 50,000 sq m centre in the city centre with a mix of retail, office, education and residential facilities.

Ironically, it was Mr Sharma who was responsible for putting this city centre site in place. Called the Opera Centre site, it is located along Patrick Street.

Limerick City and County Council unveiled a massive €100m development project for the Opera Centre site as a main pillar of the Limerick 2030 city centre development plan. The fear in City Hall now is that the Horizon Mall project could hinder the city centre revival.

Mr Sharma fist saw huge potential in Limerick city centre in 2003 and engaged local auctioneer, Pat Kearney to buy up as much property in Patrick Street as he could.

Within thee years, Mr Kearney had put together a ‘bundle’ of 40 properties in a block bordering Patrick Street. Mr Sharma bought the lot. As the Celtic Tiger roared, another major property developer bought the entire block from Mr Sharma. At the time it was reputed to be worth in the region of €120m.

Mr Sharma headed back north with a tidy profit for his foray into the Limerick property market.

As the property crash struck, the Opera Centre site fell into the hands of Nama.

City Hall was worried that this key strategic site could end up with another property speculator who might let it lie idle indefinitely.

They conveyed their concerns to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and he gave the council the go-ahead to buy the Opera Site which they got for €12m in 2011.

The council then proceeded with its master plan for the Opera site with a commitment from Mr Noonan that the Revenue Commissioners would be moved to the new centre from the nearby Sarsfield House which is to be demolished as part of the 2030 plan.

The University of Limerick, Limerick Institute of Technology and Mary Immaculate College agreed to transfer thousands of their students to the new Opera Centre site where a campus will be built with live-in residential accommodation for 350 students.

Major retailers have also indicated they want to get into the huge shopping space in the complex.

The council expects that negotiations with a developer will be completed within 12 months in a public private partnership deal.

Meanwhile, two miles away near the Parkway shopping centre, Mr Sharma was working on his plans for a new Horizon Mall.

This site was originally acquired by a Dublin developer who wanted to build a centre, the Parkway Mall there. Work had commenced on site when the crash struck and the development fell through.

Mr Sharma made his move and bought the property. He immediately put in for permission for a new centre, smaller than the original one, named the Horizon Mall.

Limerick City and County Council refused planning permission saying another suburban shopping development went against the retail plan for the Mid-West and would hit the 2030 plan for the city centre, the Opera Centre plan and other city centre projects.

The council was backed in its opposition by Limerick Chamber of Commerce and Limerick Business Association, whose 60 members were unanimous in their opposition to the Horizon plan.

Mr Sharma got his planning permission with one interesting stipulation: he has to have his Horizon Mall development completed by the middle of next August. A very tall ask.

However, Fianna Fáil TD, Niall Collins, an ally of Mr Sharma, says this will not be a problem as the Sharma plans are ready to go and he will be on site without any delay.

Mr Sharma has told Mr Collins that his new centre will be worth €35m in retail spending to the local economy, creating over 1,300 permanent jobs.