HOPES are alive for local retail and trade on Shannonside after plans have been lodged for a potential new two-storey shopping outlet on one of the busiest streets in the Treaty City.
An application was lodged in recent weeks with planners at Limerick City and County Council for a two-storey development with mixed commercial and retail units at the junction of Thomas Street and Anne Street in the city.
The proposed development stands at the site of the former Finucane’s Electrical, which was demolished in 2007 after the retailer moved to a larger premises in 2005.
Since its demolition, the site has seen a number of dashed planning hopes lodged, as well as its popular use as an urban biodiversity garden hosting two vivid black and white murals by artist Dermot McConaghy.
The plans, lodged by Multi Storey (Limerick) Ltd, with an address at River Front on Howley’s Quay in the city, are for the construction of a two-storey building with mixed commercial and retail units at the corner of 42 Thomas Street and Anne Street, as well as a two-storey unit to the rear of 15 Anne Street on Ersons Lane.
Plans would include internal and elevational alterations, with signage, to the existing adjoining unit to the rear of 15 Anne Street on Ersons Lane, and all ancillary site works.
Files submitted to the Council show hopes for nine new units on the site over the two floors, with five on the ground floor of the shopping outlet and four on the first floor. Plans for the exterior include a limestone capping and brick finish, in keeping with many of the other red brick exteriors on the busy Thomas Street.
The plans also reveal the units are hoped to measure between 44 and 75 square metres, and would be built to integrate with four existing units at the junction of Anne Street and Ersons Lane, with the units on the Thomas Street side hoped for construction next to an existing hair salon.
A decision by the local authority on the future of the outlet is due on March 23.
