CITY HALL is urged to immediately demolish the buildings acquired for the proposed Opera Centre in Rutland Street, Patrick Street and Ellen Street, and to create an open air car park, if only as a temporary measure. Prominent businessman Tony Connolly, who owns a number of retail units in Patrick Street, told the Limerick Post that the image of the city had suffered greatly since the properties were acquired and boarded up.
“Downtown Limerick is now an eyesore….it has that neglected look about it. The Opera Centre, we were told, would be up and running by 2010. Nothing has happened since the buildings were bought almost two years ago, and given the downturn in the economy, it is unlikely that the development will proceed for a number of years yet…if it ever does. Are we to live with this eyesore? Do we have any pride in the appearance of our city”.
Mr Connolly pointed out that the buildings were dangerous, given no attention and not being maintained, with some looking as if they were ready to cave in.
“Not alone that, but given the amount of anti-social behaviour in Limerick, it is not safe walking any of the streets mentioned after trading hours..and by day, for that matter
“What sort of an image are we creating for visitors to the city? Rutland Street is a main artery to the city centre and what do visitors see but empty and boarded up shops. There we have the Hunt Museum just across the road. Ellen Street had always been busy…but not anymore”.
He added that he was alert to a planning objection to the Opera Centre, “but this saga has been going on for too long now and must be tackled. The developers behind the project have also gone very quiet, when one would expect them to be making noises taking into account the amount of investment involved. I am not so sure if the planning problem is the hold up”.
It was up to City Hall, continued Mr Connolly, to pursue intentions as quickly as possible.
There was, he claimed, a dramatic drop in footfall in Patrick Street as a result of lack of activity in the Rutland Street and Ellen Street areas.
City Hall, he suggested, should now move in and demolish the buildings to make way for a car park.
“The city is crying out for more parking spaces…opening up this large tract of land might attract more people into town. It would also benefit the market on Saturdays. Maybe the market could even be extended into the available space”.
One Corbally resident told the Post that she feared walking Rutland Street, unaccompanied.
A spokesperson at City Hall conceded to the Limerick Post that the Opera Centre was unlikely to proceed in the immediate future.
