Parnell Place hotel delayed following planning appeal

The City Hall decision to grant planning permission for a 162-bed hotel on Parnell Place has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Dublin company Tetrarch Capital is seeking permission for a seven-storey budget hotel at 7-9 Parnell Place, which previously housed Flor Griffin and Mahers.

The development would stretch back to Dean Street and onto the rear of homes and businesses on Lower Oliver Plunkett Street.

The application involves the demolition of buildings to the rear of the premises facing Deane Street where the entrance to the hotel will be located.

A historic laneway that previously existed between the two buildings, linking Parnell Place to Deane Street, will also be reinstated.

Deane Street is also the subject of a separate planning application for a major office block called The Prism, which is planned for the small triangular site directly opposite the proposed hotel.

According to the planning documents, the ground floor will include a central courtyard with bar/restaurants and retail and the red-brick chimney on the site would be retained as a feature in the courtyard.

Planners in Cork City Council granted permission for the development in early December after asking the developers to modify the plans and reduce the number of hotel rooms from 165 to 162 due to the impact it would have on homes on Lower Oliver Plunkett Street.

However, an appeal has now been lodged to An Bord Pleanála by one of the residents on the street.

In their appeal, they said they were not opposed to the hotel at its planned location and accepted that relatively intensive development on the site was inevitable.

They said that if the hotel application was tweaked to retain the existing space and set back at the rear of the properties on Lower Oliver Plunkett street and allow for the reduction of the height of the building at the corner to three storeys that the overall development would be more in keeping with existing developments.

The appeal also points out that the houses on Lower Oliver Plunkett Street are amongst the oldest continually occupied residences in the city and it made sense to ensure they remain viable or else the mix that makes a city an attractive for all would be lost.