Summer start for new €50m hotel on Cork City's Oliver Plunkett St

Cork city centre is set for another new hotel after planners cleared the Starstone Property Group to build a €50m, 180-bedroom premises at the junction of Oliver Plunkett St Lower and Connell St, opposite the site once earmarked for the now-shelved Prism office block.

Construction work is due to begin in the third quarter of this year on the 0.07ha site to the rear of a former Eircom building, No 5 Lapps Quay.

The five to 10-storey hotel will be run by the Ruby Hotel Group, a Munich-based hospitality company and hotel brand, acquired last year by the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Known for a modern, design-led approach to urban hotels, the brand’s philosophy is “lean luxury”, which Starstone equates to “stylish, high-quality city centre hotels at affordable rates”.

Welcoming Cork City Council’s decision, Starstone group director Patrick McDermott, an accountant by profession, said the new hotel — which will include a gym and contemporary dining space — “marks a significant investment in Cork’s hospitality sector”.

“We’re thrilled to bring this project to life and play a role in enhancing Cork’s vibrant tourism and business scene. We’ve agreed heads of terms with Ruby Hotel Group, who will lease the building upon completion.”

Mr McDermott described Ruby Hotels as “a leading European brand known for its ‘lean luxury’ concept”, and added that “construction is scheduled to begin this summer”.

Headquartered in Co Meath, Starstone is actively expanding its hospitality portfolio, with work set to start this summer on an aparthotel in Ashbourne, Co Meath. 

In addition, McDermott recently acquired Loftus Hall on Hook Head, which “will be transformed into Ireland’s first Agri-based hotel and estate — “a unique destination, blending austere luxury with immersive farm-to-table experiences, outdoor activities, and heritage tourism”. 

Starstone acquired Loftus Hall — reputed to be Ireland’s most haunted house — from Oakmount, a company controlled by developer Paddy McKillen Jnr, who had bought it from the Quigley family in 2022. Oakmount had set about restoring the property into a boutique hotel.

Starstone’s portfolio also includes High St, Ashbourne, a large town centre mixed-use commercial property, and Southgate Shopping Centre in Drogheda. Starstone has completed a number of deals in Dublin and Cork, with reports of backing from London-based bookmaker and owner of Star Sports, Ben Keith, as well as Brighton FC owner Anthony Bloom.

The group’s Cork project will involve demolishing a vacant, two-storey commercial property, in an area planners said was “underutilised”.

The proposed Starstone development comes on the back of significant momentum across the hotel sector in Cork City following a period of limited growth up to 2018.

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Since then, the provision of new visitor bed spaces has increased significantly, with the opening of the city’s first Premier Inn, a €30m development at Morrison’s Quay in January 2024, followed by another first for the city, a Marriott-brand hotel, the 148-bed Moxy Hotel and Residence Inn on Camden Quay.

Work is also underway at Nos 31, 32, and 33 South Terrace where the UK-based JMK hospitality group project will see the conversion of three late-Georgian buildings into an aparthotel, expected to operate under the Adagio brand.

Meanwhile, the UK-based Whitbread hospitality group, which owns the Premier Inn brand, have appointed a demolition contractor to clear the now-vacated former Leisureplex/Coliseum cinema site at the junction of MacCurtain St and Brian Boru St where they have plans to build their second Cork inn. Demolition is expected to be completed by the spring and construction of the 173-bed hotel, is expected to begin later this year.

Separately, seasoned hotelier Shay Livingstone has plans for an €18.5m 58-bedroom boutique hotel at No 71 South Mall, formerly home to National Irish Bank. A new planning application is imminent after the first permission lapsed.

Over on Custom House Quay, Tower Development Properties Ltd has sought to extend its planning permission for a landmark 34-storey hotel, while investor Tetrarch Capital has refused to say if it still intends to go ahead with a hotel on Parnell Place on a site it bought in 2017.