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An Bord Pleanála recently gave the go-ahead for the €150 million mixed use town centre development on an eight-acre site in the heart of Athlone.
The mixed use town centre will comprise of 163 residential apartments, 52 retail spaces, 3 restaurants, offices and a four star hotel. The hotel accommodation consisting of 161 bedrooms with bar and restaurant facilities.
The development will also include the provision of public and private open space in the form of a playground, park, residential squares and courtyards, private gardens, balconies to all residential units and roof gardens.
The retail element of the proposal will consist of two levels with the upper level accessed from Mardyke Street and the lower level accessed off a proposed east-west covered street running from Gleeson Street to the new Civic Square. The development will also consist of over 1000 car parking spaces
A previous scheme was rejected by An Bord Pleanála 18 months ago. At the time a spokesperson for the company behind the development, Gallico, stated that An Bord Pleanála recognised the need to renew the traditional centre of the town, and that "their concerns centred on what they perceived to be poor integration of the proposal with the historic urban form of the town centre".
To address this problem, Gallico contracted Murray O’Laoire Architects to develop a radically altered plan for the six acre site.
The Irish Times of the 18th June 2005 described the development as‘promising to transform the town into a shopper's paradise', stating that 'Athlone is to get the biggest town centre development outside of Dublin and Cork - and already some of the leading international fashion stores are fighting to get in there, according to the project's developers'.
The Irish Times article is reproduced in full below.For more information on the featured project:
Athlone Town Centre
Athlone to get major town centre development An Bord Pleanála yesterday gave the go-ahead for the €150 million development on an eight-acre site in the heart of Athlone. Athlone Town Centre is promising to transform the town into a shopper's paradise. The company behind the project - Gallico Developments - have promised 500 jobs in the construction phase, followed by 950 long-term positions. Yesterday John O'Sullivan of Gallico Developments revealed that "some of the top national and international fashion stores are vying to get space in the centre - we have more stores interested than we have space." The plans include a 161-room 4-star hotel, 163 residential units, 1151 underground car spaces, covered streets, and a covered public square. The centre was previously rejected by An Bord Pleanála 18 months ago, and yesterday's news was "a major cause of celebration", said Mr O'Sullivan. The planning body cited a variety of concerns, including loss of sunlight, impact on the skyline, noise pollution, loss of privacy, destruction of the residential amenity in the area, traffic chaos, impact on the environment, destabilisation of existing properties, and a downturn in property prices. Mr O'Sullivan, who owns the Hodson Bay hotel in Athlone and the Galway Bay Hotel, was joined at yesterday's briefing by his son and local accountant Jim Keane, who is also part of the Gallico Developments consortium. © The Irish Times. |
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