Kilkenny's facelift is in train
Sunday Tribune, Sunday 16th May 2004

Huge €100m development planned for historic site at McDonagh Station.

Kilkenny’s new quarter – a huge €100m development of shops, offices and apartments at the city’s McDonagh Station site – should be completed within two years.

Mc Donagh Junction is being developed by Chesterbridge Developments in conjunction with CIE and the county council and will see the creation of a new urban quarter. The scheme got planning permission earlier this month and consists of a mix of uses including offices, retail, restaurant, housing, leisure and a new county and GAA museum.

The development integrates the existing protected structures into the new building to create a series of new streets, square and landscape spaces on the current McDonagh station.

“We have been planning this project with the council and local communities for the past two years,” says Gary Talbot, a director of Chesterbridge.

“It is part of the council’s integrated area plan. The site contains a number of listed and important heritage buildings that have been incorporated into the overall design. We want to integrate this new quarter into the existing town and to contribute to the regeneration of John Street and surrounding area.

“We have worked closely with the council with the intention of arriving at a scheme that meets these objectives. I am hopeful that we will be successful in the granting of final planning permission, which would allow us to start construction in autumn. The project should be completed by 2006.

The development was designed by award-winning architects Anthony Reddy Associates, a firm with a lot of experience in major urban regeneration projects. They designed Temple Bar West End and Custom House Square, and they are currently working on the big Dublin urban regeneration project, the Westgate Office Residential Cultural Project at Kilmainham, for the OPW and Eircom.

At Kilkenny, the McDonagh Junction project comprises a total of 56,000m² and is spread over a 5.05-hectare site in 10 buildings.

It will include 25,000m² of retail space, almost 7,000m² of restaurant, hotel and bar space, 8,000m² of office space, 11,000m² of residential, 1,500m² of leisure, 1,500m² of community area and over 1,000 parking spaces.

The residential element of the scheme could see up to 300 to 400 people living in the new urban quarter.

“We are at an advanced stage of negotiation with a retailer that is interested in becoming the anchor tenant in the development,” says Talbot. “Once that is confirmed, it will set the ball rolling for the rest of the retail space.”

In addition to creating significant commercial space, the project is also forecast to deliver 1,500 new jobs, according to a report by economic consultants DKM. The report also detailed that 500 jobs will be created during the construction phase, with an additional 200 off site jobs also predicted.

“The new jobs could introduce over €2.5m annually in sustenance spending alone to the local community,” says Talbot. “The hotel has the potential to bring 30,000 visitors to the city through its 120 bedrooms and spending by them could see over €4m being pumped into Kilkenny.”

Of the 1,500 new jobs created after construction, 500 are predicted to be in the retail element, 400 in the office aspect, 60 in the hotel and a further 70 in the leisure, residential and community areas.

“It is not only a question of job creation,” says Talbot. “The development will bring Kilkenny closer to meeting the objectives of becoming ‘hub’ location as part of the National Spatial Strategy through the additional investment, tourism and population growth potential.

It will also stem the outflow of retail spend, which the surrounding towns of Carlow, Portlaoise, Clonmel and Waterford have attracted in recent years. McDonagh Junction will be a strong retail performer that will inevitable bring greater consumer spending to the city.

Chesterbridge was set up in 1997 by property developers Paul Newman, Michael Whelan and Paul Hanby. The company has managed projects worth over €350m including developments at Custom House Square, St Patrick’s Court and Newcastle Manor.