A 50 million euro office complex has been given the greenlight in Athlone.
Planning permission has been granted to Longford developer Mark Cunningham for the construction of a nine-storey office building at Cloghanboy, just of the N55.
It will include office space, meeting rooms, staff welfare facilities and reception areas.
The buildings will be split into a 7-storey block and a 9-storey block, with designs showing an interconnecting link bridge between the first and sixth-floor level.
The building will now become the second highest in Athlone behind the 11-storey high Sheraton Hotel.
The Director of Avenir Assets Management believes companies based in larger cities need a regional presence and he's hopeful 500 jobs can created from the development.
''All these blue chip companies are all Eastern based where developed land is scarce and family homes are very expensive as a result so these Eastern based blue chip companies are going to start to have to either move West or have a regional presence and that's why I purchased the site in the first place because number one of its central location and number two it's a prominent location along the motorway.''
Listen to Mark's full interview below.
