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Campaigners opposed to the renaming of Belfast\u2019s historic Cathedral Quarter have said there is nothing authentic about the rebranding.<\/p>\nCampaigners opposed to the renaming of Belfast\u2019s historic Cathedral Quarter have said there is nothing authentic about the rebranding.<\/p>\n
Save CQ is also calling for the property company behind the \u00a3500 million Tribeca regeneration project to change its plans for the city center.<\/p>\n
Vice-chairwoman of the voluntary group, Dr Agustina Martire, said: \u201cThe announcement of the Tribeca Belfast rebrand is a superficial naming exercise, a new way of window-dressing a development that is profoundly lacking in empathy with this authentic place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Martire added: \u201cThere is nothing local or authentic about the Tribeca Belfast proposal or its brand \u2013 but the name is not the problem.<\/p>\n
The Queen\u2019s University architecture lecturer made the remarks in an address to Belfast City Council on Monday evening ahead of a motion on the controversial plans.<\/p>\n
A motion calling upon Castlebrooke Investments to drop the Tribeca branding for their city center regeneration scheme has been proposed by Councillor Lee Reynolds.<\/p>\n
Castlebrooke plans to build 1.5 million-square-foot of residential, office, retail and hospitality units on the 12-acre site beside St Anne\u2019s Cathedral.<\/p>\n
The company unveiled the name of the project as Tribeca Belfast last November. The marketing campaign included an online video voiced by actor Jamie Dornan.<\/p>\n
Castlebrooke said the name aimed to reflect the development\u2019s location as the \u2018triangle beside the Cathedral\u2019.<\/p>\n
The first phase of the development is due to be completed by 2021.<\/p>\n
Dr Martire said eight art venues and organisations would be displaced by the plans in their current format.<\/p>\n
She added that the developer was focusing on providing additional retail units at a time when the city had a retail vacancy rate of 17%.<\/p>\n
Councillors also heard an address from Conor Shields of Save CQ, who recited a poem of protest he wrote after the rebranding was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not Tribeca \u2013 that name will not last. We are CQ, Cathedral Quarter, the historic heart of Belfast,\u201d he read.<\/p>\n
The Belfast native, who was one of the co-founders of the Cathedral Quarter Trust, said it was the \u201cinsult and the injury\u201d of the marketing video that prompted his poetic response, which he uploaded online.<\/p>\n
It was viewed by 30,000 people in just two days. Since then, it has been watched 68,000 times.<\/p>\n