Opera Centre will not be done til the fat lady sings!

Here's the latest on the Opera Centre from the Lindo. I am starting to have my doubts—despite all the reassurances from the stakeholders—that the €350 million shopping centre will materialise. It could be a victim of the dreaded 'R' word and as is pointed out in the article, most of Patrick Street is boarded up in the short, medium and increasingly, long-term. In fact, foreign media agencies who visit here inaccurately assume it's empty because of the economic downturn. We can all agree that it was premature to vacate the street because these kinds of large scale projects rarely go smoothly.

Fair play to the two Fine Gael councillors anyway for trying to get some accountability and suggest alternative uses. After all, the party must be well used to trying to make the best of a frustrating obstacle to development...two words— 'Enda Kenny'.

LIMERICK City Council is losing up to €174,760 a year in commercial rates from vacant properties along Patrick Street and as the Opera Centre development faces further delays, councillors condemned the authority for “not doing its homework”.
Cllr Kevin Kiely said that the council should not have allowed the majority of traders to leave the street, which is an “eyesore” with an uncertain future while Cllr Jim Long suggested that part of it be made into a car-park to generate revenue.
A decision by An Bord Pleanála on the Opera Centre permission has been postponed again to April 9 and with the completion date for the €350 million project set at 2011, the loss of commercial rates could top €694,000.
“It could now be after the summer until a decision is made but there are still no guarantees. In the current climate, I don’t see how any bank is going to fund a project for €400 million. Most of the lower part of Patrick Street is boarded up and derelict. We shouldn’t have allowed all the traders to leave; shorter leases could have been granted to tenants,” said Cllr Kiely.
“Everything moved too quickly. Limerick City Council should have been more cautious and ensured that planning permission was completely in place and building ready to start. Someone didn’t do their homework.”
Cllr Kiely added that he feels that delays have partly been a result of ownership of the project changing hands.
“The first planning application was for a scaled down version and the developer had no sooner gotten planning permission and he sold it on. It’s disgraceful that anyone can get permission, sell it and then walk away. I wouldn’t like to see the same situation arise again.”
Cllr Long said that “it was not in the best interests of the city to allow the second planning application to hold up the first one and the result is a substantial loss of revenue for the council. There was no reason why the buildings couldn’t continue to be used”.
“With the amount of concern from the public and the business community about Patrick Street as well as parking availability and costs, I think we should look at demolishing a section of the street, putting tarmacadam over it and using it as a car-park in the interim. That could draw people into the city and make some money. As a local authority, we are seriously struggling.”
Last May, Acting Head of Finance, Pat Murnane, told councillors that the annual loss of rates from Patrick Street was €170,000 because “any vacant commercial property in the city is entitled to a 50% refund on rates paid so the owner only has to pay half and the council loses out on this”. The council increased rates by 2.8% this year.