New apartments planned beside O'Moore Park Laois GAA HQ

New apartments are being planned for an unoccupied section of the Parkside complex beside Laois O’Moore Park in Portlaoise. 

Nyquist Property Limited has lodged plans for a change of use to the existing Block A at the Parkside building on the Abbeyleix Road in Portlaoise. 

The proposal would result in a total of ten two and three bedroom apartments being built in Block A of the complex.  Block A is the circular section of the Parkside complex at the town end of the development. 

Initially earmarked for retail and office space, Block A has been unoccupied since the apartment and shopping complex was built. The plans would include the demolition of some existing internal walls and stairways

The planning application seeks a “change the use of floors at plaza level to 4th floor within the existing Block A building to provide for 10 no. apartments and associated works.”

The application states that the apartments would consist of five two-bedroom and five three-bedroom dwellings. There is also a proposal to create  a communal space and provide landscaping. 

The plan also has “provision of associated bin storage building at plaza level. Utilising the existing basement for car and bicycle parking and provision of bulky storage area for proposed apartments. All ancillary site development works.”

Laois County Council is due to decide on the planning application by September 8, 2024. 

The Parkside complex was built during the Celtic Tiger but was completed just as the property market collapsed. This meant many of the apartments and commercial properties were left unsold for years in the recession that followed.