The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Lee Valley in line for £10.2 million development
July 1995
A TRALEE business consortium is to submit plans for a £10.2m development in the Lee Valley which would involve the construction of 100 three bedroom holidays homes and a 40 bed hotel The Kerryman learned this Thursday.
Consultants have been retained by the business consortium to formulate plans for the entire development and already working drawings have been prepared.
The group behind the plan has not been named, however, The Kerryman has confirmed that the business people involved are from the Tralee area and that the initial costing of the plan envisages a £I0.2m investment in the project.
A major extension of the the Aqua Dome to provide separate health and fitness suites to complement its core activities are also central to the planned development. It is envisaged that 100 three bedroom accommodation units comprising lodge type houses would be the centre piece of the development.
A new 40 bed hotel is also envisaged in the development. Tennis courts, crazy golf and other ancillary leisure developments are also included in the outline plan. The developers also plan to build a train station to facilitate the Tralee/
Blennerville steam railway.
railway shop is also planned as part of the development. A new four star caravan park is also being planned. This would not be part of the £10.2m project, but was described as a ‘sister project’ by a source close to the developers.
The development is envisaged as a flagship project for the Lee Valley and it is anticipated by the developers that substantial State or EC funding would be available for the project.
The Kerryman also understands that a separate plan for a 100,000 sq foot conference hall which would be as big as the Point Depot in Dublin — with an associated 200 bedroom hotel is also at the planning stage.
The exact locations within the Lee Valley where the projects would be sited have not been identified, but there are two sites in the area which qualify for Urban Renewal Scheme tax incentives and these may be considered.
The Kerryman understands that the scale of both developments rules out the possibility of both going ahead in tandem and that only one will emerge at the end of the process.
At the launch in March of the Lee Valley Action Plan, Tanaiste Dick Spring, said that £l00m should be spent in Tralee over the next five years — double the £50m investment which took place between 1992 and 1995.