20-PERSON POLL:The mostly unoccupied CHQ building, in Dublin's docklands, went up for sale this week for €10 million, a drop from the €47 million that Dublin Docklands Development Authority spent on its renovation. UNA MULLALLYasks people outside the building what they'd do with it.
Aideen Clancy Donegal
“The only thing I could think of is that there’s a shortage of nice restaurants. I often think there should be somewhere nice to go for lunch around here.”
Giles Barrett Castleknock, Dublin
“ We need more restaurants and food stalls. There are 30,000 people here a day. Then again, I don’t see how anyone stays open. People come and go at lunchtime, but at the weekends it’s dead.”
George Boyle US
“God knows. I only moved here recently, and it’s dead. It definitely doesn’t work as a shopping centre, anyway. Maybe an indoor sports complex, with soccer and basketball, like they have in London.”
Caroline Flanagan Dublin
“Apartments, although that depends whether there’s some kind of preservation order on it. Or some kind of museum. It has the presence to carry it off.”
Ciara Boylan Galway
“It is a nice space. If you could do something like a community centre, or an arts centre. I don’t know what the acoustics are like, but it might be good for performances. I’d definitely decommercialise it.”
Kevin Corrigan Down
“A gym, or office space that you could rent out for meetings by the hour. Starbucks has about 20 meetings happening in it constantly.”
Ian Quigley Dublin
“I’d turn it into a museum or a tourist attraction.”
Tolani Olowu Bray, Co Wicklow
“A sports centre or a gym. The ones around here are really cramped. You could put a swimming pool in it. Or a giant KFC. Only messing.”
Ben Halloran Norway
“I think Dublin needs more entertainment for young people. Minigolf or something like that. Anything for young people that doesn’t involve drinking.”
Honor Hartnett Cork
“It [the building] is useless down here because a lot of things close down. There are nice places in there, like Toss’d, but shops aren’t any use down here.”
Alan Coleman Malahide, Dublin
“It’s a really cool space, so if the economics worked, I’d turn it into an incubation space for start-ups and young companies.”
Patricia Cavralho Brazil
“A cultural space. I never really see one space that shows the Irish culture.”
Oli Kavanagh Dublin
“You know the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid? It’s an amazing food market. It would be brilliant if Dublin could do something like that, and CHQ would be perfect.”
Javier Sereno Spain
“I’d invest in services. Something profitable, anyway.”
Niamh O’Rourke Dublin
“It needs loads more seats and more lunch places.”
Aga Dublin
“For people around here, we need more restaurants and a bit of entertainment. Personally I would turn it into my own gallery, because I paint. So if you hear of anyone giving it away for free, I’ll take it.”
Tiago Bodini Brazil
“Maybe a nightclub?”
Przemek Bil Poland
“Something like Jervis Shopping Centre.”
Janet Dolan Palmerstown, Dublin
“Maybe some sort of community centre, or put a cinema in it.”
Steve Brady Swords, Dublin
“It would be a class nightclub. It even looks like a nightclub.”
