Holiday Inn to run hotel planned for site near ILAC

The giant US hotel chain, Holiday Inn, has agreed terms to operate a large hotel planned for the centre of Dublin. The 221-bedroom hotel is to be built on a site just off O'Connell Street. Holiday Inn is to manage the four-star hotel under a 20-year contract with the developer, Garrett Kelleher of Shelbourne Development. Management fees will be based on the operating profit shown by the hotel.

Most other Holiday Inns around the world, including a new one in Dublin's Pearse Street, are run on a franchise basis. A planning application has already been lodged for the six-storey hotel, which is to be built on an island site bounded by Parnell Street, Moore Street, O'Rahilly Lane and Moore Lane. The entrance will be at the junction of Parnell Street and Moore Street, across the road from the ILAC centre.

Mr Kelleher said the management of the Holiday Inn had been looking for a flagship Dublin hotel for some years. It would be marketed through their worldwide reservations system. The one-acre site earmarked for the hotel was assembled from more than 20 owners over the past 18 months. Much of the site is derelict. Part of it is occupied by the old Hanlons Smokehouse, a sweet factory, several shops, a bar and a car-park. Shelbourne Development will be spending in the region of £30 million on assembling the site and developing the hotel. Construction is to begin late next spring and is due to be completed within 15 months.

The development will be based on the style of many Holiday Inns in the US. It will have about 25,000 square feet of retail space at street level along with a hotel bar alongside the entrance. The reception and lounge areas will be located at first-floor level as well as a restaurant and leisure centre. The bedrooms will be in the four upper floors including the penthouse level which will be set back. The developer plans to provide 147 car-parking spaces on two levels in the basement, which will be for the use of guests.

The site for the hotel will be one of the last remaining development opportunities in Parnell Street, where there have been numerous schemes over the past eight years. The largest of these was the Parnell Centre, which houses the Virgin Cinemas. Mr Kelleher emigrated to the US in the late 1980s where he worked for a construction company before setting up his own firm in Chicago. It is currently involved in a number of large projects, including the conversion of the Arnold Schwinn Bicycle Factory in West Lake Street, Chicago, for use as a retail centre and apartments. Mr Kelleher has a second Chicago company which specialises in commercial painting.