Fire at Opera Centre
A fire was started last night in the desolate Opera Centre, the centre which was ear marked to be a massive shopping outlet such as the ILAC centre in Dublin came to a stand still as the Celtic tiger died. Since then this area is like a concrete graveyard with some beautiful Georgian buildings starting to descend to rubble. The project is now owned by NAMA and nothing is going on there apart from people vandalizing what is left of the place.
This is what happened last night when 2 Limerick fire crews were met with a blaze in the upstairs of the building which used to be the Mid West Business Institute at the Old Town Hall Centre. Old educational materials and papers were set alight, although the fire service got the blaze under control quickly there has been major smoke damage left. It is thought the arsonists gained entry via the rear of the building.
The Commercial Buildings were built by the Commercial Building Company in 1805 and were occupied by the Chamber of Commerce until 1838 and later acquired by Limerick Corporation who used the building as the Town Hall from 1847 to 1990.