Planning permission is being sought today from Dublin Corporation for a u£100 million scheme for the west side of Smithfield, with a 23-storey residential tower as its focal point.
The developers, Fusano Properties Ltd, acquired the site of 2.5 acres last year for u£8 million - a record price for this part of the city. For many years, it has been occupied by Duffy's scrapyard and the Linders car showrooms.
Fusano is controlled by Mr Joe Linders and two property developers, Mr John Flynn and Mr Paddy Kelly. An adjoining site of more than one acre is to be the subject of a separate application by a Galway-based consortium, Kulling Properties Ltd.
A new curved street, linking Smithfield with Queen Street, will form the boundary between the two sites, both of which have extensive frontages on this once-neglected civic space now being repaved as part of a major upgrading of the area.
Blackrock-based architects Ho ran Keogan Ryan have been working on the Fusano scheme for al most a year. At one stage it was to include a hotel, but this has been dropped in favour of a mixed development of apartments, offices, retail and cultural facilities.
One of the most important elements of the scheme is a planned children's museum, with some 45,000 sq ft (4,195 sq m) allocated for it. It would also include a flexible theatre space.
Mr Jerry Ryan, the partner in charge, said there was a need to break up the "rather monolithic" city block on the west side of Smithfield by introducing new streets, arcades and lanes. A sizeable square would punctuate the scheme's frontage on Smithfield.
This new square would be located directly opposite the semicircular space created by Heritage Properties Ltd on the former Jameson distillery site, where an observation deck is currently being added to the old chimney beside the new Chief O'Neill's Hotel.
The chimney, a landmark in the area for 100 years, would be dwarfed by the slender 23-storey apartment tower. It would have just one flat per floor, each of them 1,400 sq ft in area.
Apartments on the upper floors of the tower would enjoy 360 degree panoramic views over the city towards the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. As designed, each would have a vast living-room and just one bedroom, easily large enough to be subdivided.
The tower would be clad in glass, stone and terracotta panelling similar to some of the new buildings on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Because it has such a small floorplate, it would be an expensive building to construct: the principal justification for it is architectural.
Mr Ryan said the tower was intended as a modern interpretation of the campanile so characteristic of Italian urban squares, such as the main piazza in Siena.
Altogether, there are nearly 400 apartments in the scheme - mostly in six and seven-storey buildings on the street frontages. With the exception of those in the tower, all of them would be accessed via first-floor courtyards. Roof gardens are also planned.
In addition, the scheme includes almost 100,000 sq ft of offices, 37,000 sq ft of retail and 14,500 sq ft of cafes, bars and restaurants. Retail units are generously proportioned and located at street level. Provision has also been made for first-floor "incubator" enterprise units.
A replacement soldiers' home, comprising 34 residential units, is planned to compensate for the proposed demolition of Bru na bhFiann on Queen Street, at the Haymarket end of the site, which was built less than 10 years ago for retired members of the Defence Forces.
A three-level basement car-park, with almost 800 spaces, is also part of the scheme. Some of these spaces would be available for short-term public use; originally, the corporation's plans included a car-park beneath Smith field, but this was dropped on cost grounds.
The new public spaces within the site, including the proposed new square, have been designed in association with Mitchell and Associates, landscape architects. Horan Keogan Ryan have also been liaising with McGarry Ni Eanaigh, who are redesigning the civic space.
The remaking of Smithfield, which will include the erection of 12 gas brazier street lamps, each 80 ft (24 metres) high, is seen as a central element of the HARP integrated area rejuvenation plan. The Tallaght Luas line is also planned to run through the area.
Even without its 23-storey tower, the Fusano scheme is substantially higher than the Heritage Properties development on the east side of Smithfield. Its central spine would be up to nine storeys high.
Mr Ryan said Dublin Corporation's senior planners had been "very positive" about the overall scheme, including the need for a strong vertical element, but whether they will sanction the proposed tower or reduce its height by several floors is unclear at this stage.