A planned four-star 182-bedroom Vicar Street “Rock and Room” concept hotel for Dublin’s Liberties “will be a huge addition to the area,” according to businessman Harry Crosbie, after Dublin City Council gave the go ahead for the scheme.
The council has granted planning permission to Mr Crosbie’s Vicar Street Hotel Ltd for the eight storey hotel despite receiving 40 objections, including one from an Augustinian priest, Fr Paddy O’Reilly, Prior at John’s Lane Church, Dublin 8.
In his objection, Fr O’Reilly told the city council that “the Liberties area is being saturated with hotel and student accommodation developments which is displacing families and this long established proud community is under siege”.
However, the 18-page council planner’s report which recommended planning permission concluded that the proposal will not seriously injure the residential amenities of neighbouring dwellings or the amenities of the area.
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The planner’s report concluded that the hotel “has the potential to form an intrinsic part of the Vicar Street Venue” and the hotel and venue uses complement each other.
It concluded that the hotel use may be more appropriate over residential use for the site due to the nature of the Vicar Street venue “which may not be conducive to allowing a good level of residential amenity”.
Mr Crosbie has been trying to construct a hotel at the site since 2008 when planning permission was first approved.
However, the global economic collapse which quickly followed and the Covid-19 pandemic stalled the businessman’s efforts.
In welcoming the permission on Thursday, Mr Crosbie said: “the area is in desperate need of light and footfall especially at night when Vicar Street is not open.”
“The area is very dark and forbidding at night and the hotel will be a huge addition to the area and be the nearest hotel to the new Guinness Quarter.”
The planner’s report reveals that the Council’s Transportation Planning Division (TPD) recommended that planning permission be refused due to concerns over service and delivery proposals for the development.
However, this was over-ruled and the council concluded that the service and delivery proposals will not result in a traffic safety hazard.
One of the 16 conditions attached to the permission states that the applicant pay a development contribution of €769,595 to the council towards public infrastructure.
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