A £50 million residential and cultural centre to mark the millennium in Co Offaly is to be built in Tullamore. The man behind the project is Mr Tom McNamara, proprietor of the local Texas store; the Williams-Waller group, and a Loughrea businessman, Mr Paddy Sweeney.
The one million square foot development will be called the Co Offaly Millennium Project and will include homes and a cultural centre in the old Williams-Waller building between the Bridge Centre and Water Lane.
The project is expected to be completed within two years and to generate 300 jobs.
Mr McNamara said the development is based on a plan he saw in Munich in Germany which had incorporated retail, living and cultural centres in the one place. It will be the first of its kind in Ireland, he said.
The group will apply for planning permission soon and it also has plans to improve the quality of the Tullamore River, which will become a focal point of the development.
More jobs will be created in the county when the Clara-based medical packaging company, Steripack Ltd, takes on 46 new employees as part of an expansion drive.
The company currently employs 43 people and sells 50 per cent of its production on the home market.