Video and Pictures: December opening for new South Mall hotel

DECEMBER will see the opening of the long-planned new hotel at the Parnell Place end of the South Mall.

The Maldron Hotel South Mall, which will have entrances on both Parnell Place and the Mall, will be the second-biggest hotel in the city centre when it opens its doors. Six stories high, with another two below ground level, the hotel will accommodate 163 rooms, two restaurants, a bar, a cafe and six conference rooms of varying size.

Douglas native Robert McCarthy is currently general manager of the Maldron Hotel Shandon but will take over the new hotel when it opens.

“Dalata Hotel Group is our parent group and they have been very active in the Irish market in the last two or three years,” he said.

“Cork has always been one of the key markets for the company and this will be their fourth hotel, joining the Maldron Hotel Shandon, Clayton Silver Springs and Clayton Cork City.

More than 100 people are being employed in construction works, which is being overseen by JJ Rhatigan, and there will be more than 140 jobs created in the hotel itself.

“The location is fantastic. The South Mall is still the most prestigious address in Cork. For us to be opening a hotel there is quite special, and for me as a Cork man, I am very proud to be the person to go down and open it.”

The new hotel will incorporate the original facades at both entrances. On the South Mall side, part of this will include what was formerly the County Fire Office, which dates back to circa 1860.

"There is a very large ground floor and we will have two restaurants. One will be our Grain & Grill restaurant, which will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“We are also opening an Italian restaurant, which will have an entrance from Parnell Place. That will be a standalone restaurant, and we will be looking for staff with the expertise to serve Italian food to the highest of standards, to create a destination restaurant.”

There will also be a full-sized café facing onto the South Mall, operating under the Red Bean Roastery brand, and a hotel bar. The lower ground floor is given over primarily to business space, with six meeting rooms of various sizes, the largest of which will cater for up to 90 people.