Green light for plans for artisan market food store and apartments at former garage site in Cork 

PLANS for a mixed-use development on the site of a former garage, set to include an artisan market food store and more than two dozen apartments, have been approved by Cork City Council.

Last May, Dennehy’s Cross Construction Limited lodged a planning application seeking permission for the development at the site of the former Dennehy’s Cross Garage located on the Model Farm Rd, close to the Dennehy’s Cross junction with Magazine Rd, Wilton Rd, and Victoria Cross Rd.

The development, the application said, would consist of the partial change of use from commercial to residential, the demolition of the former garage, and the preservation of the existing 20th-century structure on the site, a former butcher, for use as an artisan market food store.

Planning permission was also sought for the construction of a residential development consisting of 30 apartments — nine one-bed units and 21 two-bed units — over four storeys.

Additionally, permission was sought for a cafe/restaurant unit on the ground floor.

The plans proposed the provision of 49 bicycle spaces, with no car parking spaces.

In 2020, the same applicants were refused planning permission for a 45-unit development at the site.

A planning statement that was submitted with the latest application said the proposed scheme aimed to address previous planning concerns.

“A new development team, a new approach, and a new scheme has been devised, all which carefully consider the development constraints and the contexts therein,” it said.

The statement contended that the scheme if granted permission, would provide “high-quality, appropriately-scaled quality residential development in an area of high demand”.

It said the proposal “represents a key opportunity for meaningful change in this important urban community as well as providing the context for improving the way in which housing is delivered by focusing on brownfield sites as the mechanism for densifying urban areas”.

A number of submissions and objections were submitted after the plans were lodged.

Among the concerns raised by those making submissions were the height of the proposed apartment block and the lack of parking associated with the development.

However, Cork City Council has green-lit the development, subject to more than 40 conditions.

One condition stipulates that a minimum of 53 secure bike storage spaces and a minimum of 18 sheltered bike parking spaces must be provided as part of the development.

Another condition restricts the use of the ground floor unit to use as a shop and states that “no part of the premises shall be used as a hot- food/fast-food takeaway outlet on foot of this grant of planning permission”.