HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
2 planned towers tell of the new Dublin and Ireland
By Eamon Quinn
DUBLIN: On a February evening, with a cold wind funneling off the River Liffey and around the new construction lots of the Grand Canal Basin, shivering rock-music pilgrims from Spain sought out directions for Hanover Quay. They were searching the old Dublin dockyards for the recording studio of the Irish rock band U2.
U2 will be moving on in a few years. The band plans to relocate to the two top floors of a 35-story diamond- shaped residential tower that, if plans go well, will start to rise this year at the confluence of the Liffey, the River Dodder and the Grand Canal, on the southeastern perimeter of the docklands.
As part of a land swap involving its current studio site, the band will lend its name to the tower, which is expected to cost €100 million, or $132 million, and to reach 120 meters, or 393 feet. In turn, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which is overseeing a commercial, social and cultural grand design across the docklands, will knock down the band's current nondescript studio to open public access to Hanover Quay. The docklands cover more than 1,300 acres, or 526 hectares.
The authority, which will be the developer of the U2 Tower, expects to announce its choice of builder in April or May.
There was no sign of rock stars on the quay on this cold evening. But as the fans finished their homage at the shuttered studio buildings, they were unaware that next door, in the 18th- century warehouse that has been converted into a home, Harry Crosbie, property developer, impresario and U2 friend, was unrolling the newest drafts of architectural plans for a second tower.
Crosbie's building, called the Watchtower and also 120 meters tall, is to rise on a northern docklands spot, a short distance across the Liffey from the U2 Tower.
The two towers are meant to form a kind of maritime gateway for the few who travel into the city by ship and to be the city's seaward border, luring Dubliners from the heart of the city around O'Connell Bridge into the long-ignored docklands.
Both towers will be primarily residential but will have some commercial spaces. They are expected to command the area's most expensive prices; prime residential apartment space in the docklands now sells for about €1,400 a square foot, or about €15,000 a square meter.
Around the Crosbie tower site, the development authority has approved construction of a shopping mall, a 250- bed hotel, an "entertainment village" and the refurbishment of Crosbie's existing Point Theater into a 15,000-seat amphitheater.
To one side of the area, where some excavation has started, Crosbie also plans a separate, seven-story building, to be called the U2 Experience, that he says will relate the history of rock music through the eyes of the U2 band members.
He estimates that the entire development will cost €800 million.
The creation of two landmark towers in a city whose core is 18th- and 19th-century low-rise structures is the story of the rapid development of Dublin's docklands.
It is also a story about Ireland in the midst of enormous change: In just 12 years, the Irish economy has gone from being the poorest in the European Union to being one of the richest in the world.
The evidence of growing prosperity is seen in the construction activity all across the docklands, which were left idle 40 years ago when the Dublin Port and its containerized traffic moved to deeper waters downriver.
"Living down here in those days was like living on the moon — people thought I was completely mad," Crosbie said about his home, which is protected by law as a historic site. "I really got to know U2 when they went into next door. They asked for the use of a warehouse and they moved from Windmill Lane about 14 years ago."
There has been good-natured ribbing between Crosbie and the band members over who will lie and claim to have the tallest tower, even though the development authority has said both structures must be the same height.
By world standards, the towers will not be all that tall; the shortest structure on any list of the world's 100 tallest skyscrapers is 253 meters, or more than twice the planned height of the towers.
Crosbie acknowledged that the design for his tower was plainer than the one for U2. "U2 would be making more of a statement than me," he said, but his will be "a little bit more adventurous."
To read the entire article, go here.
By Eamon Quinn
DUBLIN: On a February evening, with a cold wind funneling off the River Liffey and around the new construction lots of the Grand Canal Basin, shivering rock-music pilgrims from Spain sought out directions for Hanover Quay. They were searching the old Dublin dockyards for the recording studio of the Irish rock band U2.
U2 will be moving on in a few years. The band plans to relocate to the two top floors of a 35-story diamond- shaped residential tower that, if plans go well, will start to rise this year at the confluence of the Liffey, the River Dodder and the Grand Canal, on the southeastern perimeter of the docklands.
As part of a land swap involving its current studio site, the band will lend its name to the tower, which is expected to cost €100 million, or $132 million, and to reach 120 meters, or 393 feet. In turn, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which is overseeing a commercial, social and cultural grand design across the docklands, will knock down the band's current nondescript studio to open public access to Hanover Quay. The docklands cover more than 1,300 acres, or 526 hectares.
The authority, which will be the developer of the U2 Tower, expects to announce its choice of builder in April or May.
There was no sign of rock stars on the quay on this cold evening. But as the fans finished their homage at the shuttered studio buildings, they were unaware that next door, in the 18th- century warehouse that has been converted into a home, Harry Crosbie, property developer, impresario and U2 friend, was unrolling the newest drafts of architectural plans for a second tower.
Crosbie's building, called the Watchtower and also 120 meters tall, is to rise on a northern docklands spot, a short distance across the Liffey from the U2 Tower.
The two towers are meant to form a kind of maritime gateway for the few who travel into the city by ship and to be the city's seaward border, luring Dubliners from the heart of the city around O'Connell Bridge into the long-ignored docklands.
Both towers will be primarily residential but will have some commercial spaces. They are expected to command the area's most expensive prices; prime residential apartment space in the docklands now sells for about €1,400 a square foot, or about €15,000 a square meter.
Around the Crosbie tower site, the development authority has approved construction of a shopping mall, a 250- bed hotel, an "entertainment village" and the refurbishment of Crosbie's existing Point Theater into a 15,000-seat amphitheater.
To one side of the area, where some excavation has started, Crosbie also plans a separate, seven-story building, to be called the U2 Experience, that he says will relate the history of rock music through the eyes of the U2 band members.
He estimates that the entire development will cost €800 million.
The creation of two landmark towers in a city whose core is 18th- and 19th-century low-rise structures is the story of the rapid development of Dublin's docklands.
It is also a story about Ireland in the midst of enormous change: In just 12 years, the Irish economy has gone from being the poorest in the European Union to being one of the richest in the world.
The evidence of growing prosperity is seen in the construction activity all across the docklands, which were left idle 40 years ago when the Dublin Port and its containerized traffic moved to deeper waters downriver.
"Living down here in those days was like living on the moon — people thought I was completely mad," Crosbie said about his home, which is protected by law as a historic site. "I really got to know U2 when they went into next door. They asked for the use of a warehouse and they moved from Windmill Lane about 14 years ago."
There has been good-natured ribbing between Crosbie and the band members over who will lie and claim to have the tallest tower, even though the development authority has said both structures must be the same height.
By world standards, the towers will not be all that tall; the shortest structure on any list of the world's 100 tallest skyscrapers is 253 meters, or more than twice the planned height of the towers.
Crosbie acknowledged that the design for his tower was plainer than the one for U2. "U2 would be making more of a statement than me," he said, but his will be "a little bit more adventurous."
To read the entire article, go here.
But somehow I feel sad when I think that they are going to leave the Hannover Quay...I've just got kind of fondness for that place...So many nice memories...
Progress....
100 million euro eyesores 
