Marina Market owners to bid for multi-million euro state aid package to deliver Cork event centre
Success Larry Urban During Pandemic By Opened Tom Cummins Investment Founded Coughlan, Quickly The Green And Massive Market, Private, Marina Firm, Property Owned By The A Picture: Became
The hugely successful Marina Market in Cork is set to compete for a multi-million state aid package to deliver an event and conference centre in the city.
It has established a team and says it is working with a leading architectural body to oversee an international competition to design a new 5,000-seat conference space, a 100-bed hotel, and a gallery, focused on its south docklands site.
It would attract close to 500,000 people annually and would include and integrate the Marina Market, a spokesman said.
“We have asked the architects to look to developments such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Guggenheim Bilbao for inspiration,” he said.
“We see the proposed gallery as being easily accessible and designed to integrate with the conference space.
“The Marina Market has proved that innovative solutions at a reasonable capital cost can deliver a vibrant cultural space while at the same time supporting small local businesses.
“The next phase of this exciting journey is the delivery of a world-class exhibition space that meets Cork’s growing ambition in the heart of the docklands. It is time to deliver this project for Cork, and we want to be part of the process of making it a reality.”
The news comes as work continues to fast-track the retendering process for an enlarged state-aid package for a multi-functional event and conference venue in Cork.
It is not clear what criteria will have to be met, or if the Marina Market proposal will qualify to participate.
BAM, which won a tender in 2014 for some €20m in state funding to deliver a venue, and operators Live Nation, have planning permission for a 5,000-capacity venue on the former Beamish and Crawford site on South Main St.
The sod was turned on the site by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny just weeks before the 2016 general election but it has been dogged ever since by delays, redesigns and soaring costs. Not a single brick has been laid.
Post covid, the government increased pledged state aid to around €57m but following detailed design work, costs soared and it became clear that substantial additional state funding of up to €30m would be required.
Given the scale of change in the funding model, legal advice to the Government led to a decision in October to retender, with a truncated re-procurement process to ensure the State does not fall foul of EU procurement laws.
It was expected that BAM and Live Nation would be the only consortium involved in the retendering process but now the Marina Market is set to get involved.
The market, owned by property investment firm, Urban Green Private, founded by Tom Coughlan, opened without planning during the pandemic in a vacant warehouse at Centre Park Road, quickly becoming a massive success.
It finally secured planning permission last year, securing its future on the site for at least the next five years.
Urban Green’s portfolio includes Douglas Village Shopping Centre, Castletroy Shopping Centre in Limerick; Shannon Town Centre and Bridgewater Shopping Centre in Arklow, Co Wicklow.