€80m project in Limerick city appealed
Locals want ABP to review council approval
AN BORD Pleanala has been asked to review a decision to allow an €80m housing project on the northside.
Tribeca Asset Management, a firm fronted by well-known developer Aidan Brooks received the go-ahead to transform the six-acre site surrounding the former Limerick Ryan Hotel at Ennis Road.
A total of 167 apartments are planned.
And while Limerick council planners green-lit the development back in April, four local residents and groups have now written to the national planning appeals body to take a second look.
A decision is expected on the proposal by the start of September.
The proposals will see the apartments built across five new blocks ranging in height from three-storey to five-storey at the landmark site located off North Circular Road, Roses Avenue and Ennis Road.
These homes are planned alongside the refurbishment of the seven-storey former Clarion Suites Hotel, which closed in 2010.
Work on this has actually been completed.
Mr Brooks bought 4.8 acres of the site from Nama in 2018 for a reported €6.8m.
He followed it up with the purchase of the old public house on the land, to bring the land in his ownership to six-acres.
More than 30 groups and individuals had initially written to council to oppose the development.
One person who originally opposed the development, and subsequently contacted An Bord Pleanala admitted concerns at the “overlooking” and “impact” on properties around the old hotel site.
They said the height of the apartments - ranging from three to five storeys were “out of scale and character” with the established pattern in the area.
Concerns were also raised about parking, a reduction in open space, noise, and the loss of privacy and security around the housing estates which lie adjacent.
But Limerick Chamber, which is the region’s largest business representative group, threw their support behind the project, highlighting the low level of units to rent presently.