European cash will bankroll Limerick city centre's biggest-ever project
The European Investment Bank has committed €85m to the Opera site plan.
THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT Bank (EIB) has confirmed that it will commit €85 million to the project to develop the Limerick ‘Opera Centre’ site in the heart of the city.
The sum is a record commitment for the EIB for an urban Irish investment programme. The bank will lend the money to Limerick city and county councils, which will use the funds to bankroll the project.
The ‘Opera Centre’ is a four-acre site located in the heart of Limerick city on which the council is planning a huge commercial development.
Three big commercial buildings, the largest of which will be up to 14-storeys tall, will be at the centre of the project.
As well as the three large commercial buildings, several city buildings in the area will be refurbished to provide more office space and over 1,000 sq m of retail space.
It is expected that, when completed, the new buildings will be able to house about 3,000 workers.
The EIB commitment is the first time that the bank has made finance available to a local authority programme in Ireland since 1993.
‘Transform’
In a statement, Limerick council said that the contract for the 25-year loan was signed at its headquarters in Limerick today.
The ‘Opera Centre’ project is being led by Limerick Twenty Thirty, a special purpose vehicle created and owned by Limerick city and county councils tasked with building infrastructure in the region.
Denis Brosnan, the former head of Irish food giant Kerry group, is the chairman of the Limerick Twenty Thirty vehicle.
A CG render of the developed Opera site
He said: “This is a long-term project that is going to transform Limerick into one of Europe’s fastest-growing cities and one capable of competing for inward investment on an international scale.
“The funding will be specifically available for the Opera site project, which will be a landmark project not just on a local but national scale.”
Limerick Twenty Thirty has previously said that the development will be the largest single city-centre project ever undertaken in Limerick.
Work on the project is scheduled to begin in 2018, with the entire scheme expected to take about six years to complete.
Previous plans
As previously explained by Fora, the city centre site has lain idle for years. A developer bought the land around the Opera site during the boom with the intention of building a massive shopping centre.
However this fell through during the recession and the land was then bought by the council for a fraction of the price.
While the council has been keen to talk up the project, there has been some criticism that the development does not include space for residential accommodation.
