Things are looking up.

While the Covid-19 restrictions have temporarily postponed building on sites all over the city and county, a specialist regeneration developer has unveiled some exciting plans for one of Cork’s most characterful streets.

BMOR has announced it will lodge a planning application for a €25m 280-bed student accommodation development at the former Munster Furniture site on North Main Street.

If it gets the go-ahead, the slick development will include a communal workspace, a gym, library and laundry room for residents. 

Two new retail units complete the plan, which also includes a landscaped courtyard. If it gets the green light, the building phase would employ more than 150 local construction workers.

Designed by O’Mahony Pike Architects, it is hoped the scheme will kickstart the regeneration of the area, which was closed to traffic for a time last summer after a partial building collapse in June.

“Bmor & Partners acquired the site in April 2018.” the company stated on its website. “Bmor are currently preparing a Mixed-Use scheme to drive the regeneration of Cork’s most historic street and reinstate a historic laneway.”

Director of BMOR, Cork native Paul Irwin, said Cork City Council have been supportive of the project, which the company estimate will be completed by September 2022.

A privately-owned specialist property investment company based in London, BMOR recently opened an office on Cork’s South Mall. The developers are also hoping to redevelop the North Main Street Shopping Centre, which was built by Owen O’Callaghan in the 1980s.

Images: BMOR