Naas Plaza to open 300 parking spaces on Monday

It will be ‘High Noon’ in Naas on Monday (16 March) according to the Mayor Cllr Seamie Moore.

“No not at the OK Corral but at the centre-town Plaza Centre, where at 12 mid-day, the most sought after and anticipated event for many years in Naas, will take place,” said Cllr Moore, incidentally on Thursday (12 March) on his 87th birthday.

“Yes, I can confirm the first 300 spaces in the car park at the Plaza will be opened for public usage, with entry from Corban's Lane,” confirmed the owner of the Centre, local businessman Gerald Roche.

“Seamie [Moore] as Mayor will cut the ribbon to officially open the first tranche of the car park, and immediately after that we have a very surprise guest driving in to be the first person to park a car here,” he added.

“It will be a Rolls Royce owned by Ray McConnell, but you’ll have to turn up to see who the driver is!” Mr Roche has confirmed to The Kildare Nationalist that this first phase will see 250 spaces in the basement, and a further 50 spaces immediately on the next level upstairs, out of the projected 747 spaces originally designed for the Centre.

“That is the case for now, but I can tell you we have all the groundwork in for that, the stairs and lifts have already been installed for the upper floors, and so when the lower levels fill up it will be very easy for us to open the rest in time,” he said.

“We have been getting loads and loads of enquiries over the last few weeks,” he revealed.

Mr Roche was quite effusive in his praise of his whole team who have got this across the line after all the mini-hiccups since he obtained the site a little over five years ago.

“It really couldn’t have been done without them,” he said.

The original Shopping Centre was mothballed at 90 per cent completion in 2008 after the financial crash, and was designed for 44 units, with 747 car park spaces over 22,800sqm (245,000sqft), although it is expected this latest iteration will be kept at an anchor tenant and 28 units.

Roche is believed to have got the landmark 1.54Ha (3.8ac) site from NAMA for an estimated €4.5m, and is estimated to have spent a further €10-15m on fitting it out.

About 150 jobs were ultimately required for this five-year renovation to get the Centre back to habitable standard, while a further 700 jobs are expected to follow as the retail units re-open, with an annual wages bill expected to pump a further €20m a year into the Kildare economy.

The Centre originally got planning permission in 1998, but according to a local councillor “the [then] developer dragged his feet and left it too late” to capitalize on its prime location before the Tiger died.

One thing all agree on is that the potential of opening of 700+ car parking spaces in the town centre is well in line with the remit of the recently published revised Naas Local Area Plan (LAP).

The full site includes a number of associated properties which also formed part of the sale, including the former Tully’s Bookmakers and Sarah Flood site, ‘The Five Lamps’ and ‘Forge Inn’ pubs on Main Street either side of the Bank of Ireland, as well as a former two-storey office premises at 50 Main Street, adjacent to The Five Lamps.

Gerald Roche was born in Foxford, Co Mayo and raised in Milltown, Newbridge.

He lives in Kilmead with his wife Annette, and all four of their children –PJ, Claire, Eoin, Stephen and Eadoin (aged 46 to 27) – are involved with the family business.

Mr Roche is the man responsible for the €25m Vista Clinic on the Ballymore Road, which he built with his cousins Ulick and Des McEvaddy “I’m looking forward to the opening and to wishing all the best to the Roche family for their tenacity and commitment to making this great facility available to the community and to town shoppers. Well done and thanks,” concluded Cllr Moore.