JCD bowls ahead with plans for €3m Half Moon Street leisure complex

Cork city centre will gain a new entertainment hub offering bowling, arcade games, and a full bar, creating 25-30 jobs.

The new Cork city centre leisure and entertainment complex will include bowling lanes, pool tables, darts, karaoke, and a games arcade. Picture: Larry Cummins

Developer JCD Group is planning to pump €3m into converting a vacant basement on Half Moon St into a “destination entertainment venue” with a fully licensed bar.

The new Cork city centre leisure and entertainment complex, contingent on clearance from planners, will include bowling lanes, pool tables, darts, karaoke, and a games arcade. It will also serve food. The number of jobs it will create is estimated at 25-30.

In its planning application to Cork City Council, JCD was keen to point out that the proposed development “does not include any form of gambling or betting”.

JCD said its proposals would “facilitate the provision of a new bowling alley leisure complex in Cork city centre Picture: Larry Cummins

A similar operation in the city, Leisureplex, which had operated at the junction of MacCurtain St/Brian Boru St since the 1980s, closed at the end of last year, after the site was acquired by UK hospitality outfit the Whitbread group.

The group was cleared to build a 174-bed Premier Inn on the site late last year, with work to demolish the complex expected to get underway in early 2027, subject to agreeing a traffic management plan with Cork City Council.

JCD said its proposals would “facilitate the provision of a new bowling alley leisure complex in Cork city centre”. The only similar complex currently in the city is the Mardyke Entertainment Complex.

Planning documents prepared by town planners Coakley O’Neill on behalf of JCD in relation to the Half Moon St proposal reveal the likely occupier is Lane7, an established UK leisure and entertainment brand, that already operates out of two Dublin premises, including a city centre basement venue on Clarendon Row. Lane7 operates at 25 locations, mainly across the UK. JCD told the Irish Examiner that they were “in detailed discussions with a number of international operators to occupy the premises”.

The venue will operate seven days a week from 11.00am to 12.30am, with security staff “subject to it being required at specific times”. An alcohol licence “is currently being procured”.

The riverside basement site has been assessed for flood risk by MMOS Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers and while they concluded that it is at risk of fluvial and tidal flooding, risk can be “managed and mitigated to acceptable levels” with the introduction of flood barriers/gates. Moreover the OPW’s €200m Lower Lee flood relief scheme “will further improve the existing position of this development in the future”. Construction work on the scheme has not yet started.

Tech giant Apple previously had offices in the building, before relocating in 2021.

The JCD Group, advised by Lia Dennehy and Peter O’Meara from Savills, has gone in for a change of use to a “destination entertainment venue” as the 24,000 sq ft below-ground venue was originally earmarked for retail. The basement has never attracted a retail tenant since the development was completed in 2011.

The immediate area is characterised by a mix of use including retail, residential, office, cultural and leisure functions, which include the Cork Opera House and the Crawford Art Gallery. JCD points out that its proposed complex “will contribute to the night-time economy ... without any significant negative impact on existing amenities”. It will also “bring a currently vacant space in Cork city centre into active use”.

“The proposed development will bring the site back into active use, regenerating a currently underutilised space and contributing positively to the overall vibrancy, attractiveness and sustainability of Cork city centre.

By introducing a complementary leisure use, the proposal will increase footfall, encourage visitor times, and support the surrounding retail and hospitality businesses,” say the planning files.

The new venue will be accessed from Half Moon St between the Boots and Matthews retail outlets, directly across from the rear of the Crawford Art Gallery, which is currently undergoing a major €93m expansion and renovation, with a tentative completion date of mid to late 2028.

The proposed entertainment complex will be mainly at basement level of the office and retail mixed use development on Half Moon St, acquired by a JCD-linked entity — Progressive Capital Investments ICAV — at the start of the year in an off-market deal believed to be about €30m. Tech giant Apple previously had offices in the building, before relocating in 2021 to BAM/Clarendon’s new development at Horgan’s Quay and subsequently to Apple’s newly expanded campus on Hollyhill.

After acquiring the Half Moon St development from global property investment company Kennedy Wilson, JCD pledged to spend €5m on upgrades. To date, new tenants at the upgraded building include financial software company, Empyrean Solutions, who relocated there from another JCD development on Penrose Quay. Empyrean has made Cork its R&D hub and expects to create 40 new jobs this year.

The overall Half Moon St development, which fronts onto Lavitt’s Quay and backs onto Paul St, hosts a mix of retail and offices, and tenants include Boots pharmacy flagship Cork store, Matthews outdoor wear specialists, Koppers hair salon, and MDM Solicitors.

Picture: Larry Cummins

The distinctive 115,000sq ft (10,700sq m) curved building with fully-glazed facade was designed by Wilson Architecture and developed by O’Callaghan Properties (OCP) in the 2000s. Kennedy Wilson paid OCP €36.3m for the mixed-use development in 2019.

Cork City Council is due to decide on the JCD application by November 17.