Waterford Reborn

Waterford, Ireland, circa 1998, when Lief and I first came to call it home, was a bit worse for wear.

Once upon a time, this was a bustling port town with ships lining the harbor importing and exporting to France, Spain, and beyond. By the time we arrived on the scene, though, Waterford was forgotten and depressed.

That was the point. The Irish Development Agency was trying to reinvigorate Ireland’s economy beyond its capital city so they’d offered us cash incentives and tax breaks to set up shop here. The Celtic Tiger’s roar had yet to be heard much beyond Dublin. Waterford way down on the country’s southeast coast was sad and gray and generally in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Still, the night I crossed the Rice Bridge over the River Suir for the first time as an official Waterford resident, the lights from the Georgian townhouses that line the quay twinkling in the harbor, Reginald’s Tower standing guard over the city as it had done for more than a thousand years, I could imagine the place as it once must have been, lively and prosperous.

Viewed from the bridge into town, Waterford appeared magical.

I was in Waterford earlier this month for meetings with our Live And Invest Overseas team on the ground there. The evening I drove into town, I was greeted by that same charming Old World scene.

The colorful row of Georgian structures lining the quay appeared little changed from when I’d seen it for the first time… Except… wait… what was that along the river’s edge?

Construction cranes? Heavy equipment? What was going on…

Throughout the seven years we called Waterford home we heard tell of a riverfront redevelopment. The city’s quay was to have a major upgrade.

The plan was hard to pin down and ever-changing and came to nothing by the time we took our leave.

Lief and I have a strong track record for front-running infrastructure in key locations across the globe. Sometimes we’re way out front.

At last, nearly three decades later, Waterford’s riverfront is getting the facelift it’s been long promised.

RTE reports:

“Waterford City Council has granted planning permission for the 200-million-euro Waterford North Quays development. The project proposes nine new blocks positioned along the northern quays of the River Suir in Waterford City Centre.”

Waterford’s new riverfront will feature a four-star hotel, an apart-hotel, 350 residential apartments, an office block, and retail and food and beverage units. There will be two plazas, a promenade, parks, and a cycling route… Plus a new bridge for getting from one side of the river to the other.

The very good news is that the iconic scene of classic Irish Georgian structures along the southern quay will remain intact. This is where you’ll find the Granville Hotel, my favorite in all Ireland, where Lief, our daughter Kaitlin, and I lived our first few months in town.

The ambitious redevelopment will take place across the river along the northern quay.

I can’t help but have mixed feelings. I have a strong attachment to Waterford. This is where Lief and I started our life together. The plan as it’s now imagined will change this city’s center dramatically. On the other hand, I’m all for Ireland’s oldest city—my first home overseas—enjoying improvements.

You could say that Waterford is Ireland’s most important city… for it was the first, founded by Vikings in 914 AD.

When, during the Middle Ages, Eire was organized into the Irish Catholic Confederation, the spotlight was on Kilkenny, which was named the capital.

Then, when Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1921, Dublin took center stage.

Today, ask an Irishman (or woman) and they might tell you that Ireland has two capitals. Dublin’s official, but many say Cork is the country’s “real” capital.

Ireland’s most historic city, meantime, has been largely sidelined. If not for Waterford Crystal, the world likely would have come to ignore this town altogether.

Lief and I landed on Waterford’s shores as the Celtic Tiger was building steam. We turned $250,000 into more than $1 million thanks to the outrageous appreciation property values enjoyed during this period in Irish history… even in Waterford.

I tell the story in my book “At Home In Ireland.”

Now all Ireland is suffering through a housing shortage. It’s a bona-fide crisis.

The housing stock that will come online thanks to the redevelopment of Waterford’s riverside will be snatched up quickly. And the shops and amenities the plan calls for will attract tourists in numbers this city has never known.

Perhaps it’s time to invest in Waterford again.

I began my shopping while in town this month.