The 104-year-old chimney of the former Jameson distillery at Smithfield is about to be reborn as an observation tower as tall as Liberty Hall, which will offer unrivalled panoramic views over the whole of Dublin.
For £3, an external hydraulic lift will convey visitors to its two blazed decks, looking for all the world like the lantern of a lighthouse. It will be the only such high-level vantage point in the city to be open to the public.
The blazed decks are currently being prefabricated in the Netherlands with a view to the observation tower opening in June, according to Mr Terry Devey, the property developer who acquired the former distillery for redevelopment in 1995.
The Devey Group, which is now on the verge of completing Smithfield Village, announced yesterday that an Irish traditional music centre would be the "anchor" for its £60 million scheme, which also includes a 73-bedroom hotel, two bars and a shopping mall.
The hotel is being named Chief O'Neill's in honour of Daniel Francis O'Neill, who left Bantry, Co Cork, after the Famine and ultimately became Chicago's police chief in 1901. He was also a very important collector of Irish music.
Mr Harry Bradshaw, traditional music producer with RTE Radio, has been engaged to run the centre, which will be known simply as Ceol.
On three levels, it will aim to introduce Irish people and visitors alike to the riches of our traditional music.
Originally the Project Arts Centre was to have been the "cultural anchor" of Smithfield Village, but it decided to stay in Temple Bar. The Sculptors Society of Ireland was another prospect, but this fell through when its Arts Council grant was halved.
Mr Devey said he was determined that the Village would include a major cultural component to create a lively mix of uses. It will also have a traditional Irish bar, but in a contemporary style for 2000 - "no three-legged stools and sawdust".
The overall scheme includes 224 apartments, some of which were sold off the plans in 1995 when nobody was very sure about what way Dublin was heading. Those who had the courage to invest then have done well and "fair play to them", Mr Devey said.
"I remember sitting here in the middle of this derelict distillery, surrounded by weeds, trees, wild flowers and birds singing. It was so magical that I found it almost heart-stopping to think that it would have to disappear in the interest of progress".
Mr Devey also recalled that most banks took a very sceptical view of his project - "They hardly knew where Smithfield was." But he paid tribute to Mr Tom Browne of Anglo Irish Bank, who "came down here one Friday evening and bought into the project".
That was in the summer of 1995. Smithfield Village was then being designed by Dublin-based architects A & D Wejchert. Its grey metal-clad towers, reminiscent of old malthouses, are its most distinctive feature, making quite an impact on the roofscape of the area.
Back in 1991 Smithfield had little or no value. The State sold the 2.5 acre distillery site to Duffys scrap merchants for £500,000.
Last year Duffys sold its scrapyard - an equivalent-sized site just opposite - for £8 million, or 16 times as much.
The changing fortunes of the area are underpinned by Dublin Corporation's Harp rejuvenation project, which takes in a large and quite rundown tract of the north inner city extending from O'Connell Street to the National Museum at Collins Barracks.
Smithfield is its centrepiece. Apart from the Devey Group's huge scheme, the immediate area has now become the focus of major development activity involving Irish Distillers, Linders the car dealers, and even the veteran property developer, Mr John Byrne.
In May work is to start on a scheme to re-create its central space, which has long been seen as potentially one of the most important civic squares in Dublin. Currently a huge surface car park, it is comparable in size to the Piazza Navona in Rome.
By the end of October the cobbled square will have been remade to a competition-winning design by Drogheda-based architects McGarry Ni Eanaigh. This includes the installation of 12 brazier-style beacons, each 80 feet high, to mark its location.
Chief O'Neill's Hotel, together with Ceol, the observation tower and other commercial facilities on the Smithfield Village site, are to be run by Devey Leisure. They will provide jobs for up to 230 people and efforts are being made to recruit many of those locally.
Mr Devey confirmed that he had signed a contract with Tolmac Ltd to restore the derelict house at nearby Ushers Island which was the setting of James Joyce's story, The Dead, and has been owned by the Devey Group since 1991.