New 134 room hotel planned for Galway

Press Up Entertainment, Ireland’s largest and fastest growing pub and restaurant group, are said to have acquired a site in Galway with planning permission for a 134-bedroom hotel.

The site is located near Prospect Hill received planning permission for a hotel last year following an application by Highgate Properties. It is understood Press Up paid €4.5 million for the land. In addition to the bedrooms, there is permission for two bars within the building, which will ultimately have a total gross floor area of 5,310sq m. The acquisition comes as Press Up eye opportunities to expand into the UK market in the near future.

Press Up is the largest restaurant and venue group in the country and the group behind well-known restaurants such as Captain America’s, Roberta’s and the Dean Hotel. Press Up, which last year had a turnover of about €52 million, has said it hopes to open at least nine new hospitality venues over the coming year, including the Devlin hotel in Ranelagh, Dublin, which will open in the summer.

The group is also reported to be developing a 140-bedroom hotel in Cork. It is also planning a revamp of former private members’ club Residence on St Stephen’s Green, which it purchased recently. In addition, Press Up will soon open a cocktail bar in a three-storey building on Dublin’s Aungier Street, which company documents suggest will be called The Dutch Billy. The group’s other recent purchases include the well-known Elephant & Castle restaurant business in Temple Bar.

1,300 hotel rooms to be added to Dublin, but supply will still be tight

It’s forecast that Dublin will see 1,300 new hotel rooms added to the capital this year. More than 500 of the rooms will come from extensions to existing hotels while six new hotels are expected to open in the city in in 2018.

Dalata, Ireland’s largest hotel group, will continue to grow opening three Maldron Hotels and a Clayton Hotel, a 140 room property on Kevin Street and a hotel on the site of the former Charlemont Clinic on the Grand Canal which will have 180 bedrooms opening in September. This month, the McGill family’s Iveagh Garden Hotel will open on Harcourt Street. The family also own the Harcourt and Harrington Hotels and the new 152 room property houses an underground river which will act as a source of renewable energy.

The Liberties will see the opening of Ireland’s first Aloft hotel in the spring with 202 rooms. The hotel is bound to be a hit with tech lovers as guests can use smartphones and Apple Watches to open their room doors. The Dean’s sister hotel, the 41 room Devlin will open in Ranelagh this summer, along with its own 50 seat cinema. According to Davy Stockbrokers said that 2018 will be the first time in almost 10 years that Dublin will see a “meaningful increase” in the supply of new hotel rooms.

Despite these new openings, Dublin’s hotel supply will still remain tight as Dalata close two hotels, the Ballsbridge Hotel and Tara Towers towards the end of 2018/start of 2019. Tara Towers will shut down later this year ahead of being redeveloped into a 140-bedroom Maldron Hotel while the groups lease on the 392-bedroom Ballsbridge Hotel is due to expire in October and while the group is expected to seek an extension of the lease until March of 2019, the property is then set to re-developed by Chartered Land.

Outside of Dublin, Belfast will get 4 new hotel additions, the Grand Central Hotel opening at the end of May with 304 rooms, the Maldron with 237 rooms, Marriott Hotel will open in the Quays area with 190 rooms and a Hampton Hotel will host 180 rooms. Cork’s South Mall area will also get sees a new Maldron too with 230 bedrooms.

Planning permission granted for a 175 bedroom hotel in Smithfield

 

Dublin City Council has granted planning permission for a 175 bedroom, five to seven-storey hotel in Smithfield.

The development will be undertaken by the Dublin Loft Company and will be situated at 6-11 Hendrick Street. The development will replace an existing 3,000 square foot single-storey property and will extend to 60,000 square feet.

The design statement as carried out by Hussey Architects detailed the planned look of the hotel. “The style of hotel will be in between a standard [Fáilte Ireland-classified] hotel and a contemporary boutique hotel aimed at younger visitors,”

The hotel’s ground floor is to have a bar, dining areas, bedrooms and ensuites, offices, with the remaining bedrooms and ensuites spread across the above stories. There will also be an outside landscaped courtyard area.

The planning report, filed by RPS Group on behalf of Dublin Loft Company said: “A key aim of the proposed development is to revive and reinstate the continuous line of street frontage which would have existed historically along Hendricks Street. A hotel use at this location in close proximity to Smithfield, the LUAS and a variety of visitor attractions will contribute to the vibrancy, vitality and overall continued regeneration of this area.”