The highest hotel in the State, the 17-storey Clarion Hotel in Limerick, will be a new landmark on the River Shannon when it opens in May.
The £20 million building, at 51 metres, will be the highest hotel and the third highest building in the State after Liberty Hall, Dublin (59 metres) and Cork County Hall (60 metres). It is one of three new hotel projects in Limerick which are at various stages of development.
The 94-bedroom Clarion Hotel, on Limerick's Steamboat Quay, will employ 70 people. Because of its location, it has a marine theme with a shape like the bow of a boat. The developer, Mr Pat Whelan, of Project Management, is understood to be considering a roof-top feature which may make a new record for the highest building in the State.
The hotel is part of the Choice Hotels Group, the largest operator in the country which currently has 24 hotels under the Clarion, Quality and Comfort brands. A new hotel is also being built by the group at Liffey Valley, Dublin.
Mr Sean Lally, a managing partner in the Limerick venture, said there was an opening for four-star hotels. "A major part of our business will be the commercial market. There is a huge amount of industry in Limerick."
Meanwhile, Kings Island Developments, a consortium which includes the Dublin-based director, Mr Gerry O'Reilly, and Sisks, will carry out an impact assessment of a proposed 107-bedroom, six-storey hotel on Limerick's King's Island, on a site which traverses the location of the medieval city wall at Sir Harry's Mall. D·chas, the Heritage Service, claimed the development would erase a medieval laneway and ignore important local monuments.
According to a memorandum of a recent meeting held with D·chas, trench testing is to be carried out and the standing walls on the site are to be examined.
Burke-Kennedy Architects state that the current plan is the culmination of four years of work and three major redesigns. "We believe that at this stage, the building represents the best possible solution on site given the various constraints."
The developers of a second hotel for King's Island, BQ Enterprises, re-applied for planning permission this week after being refused last February to build at a site close to the 13th century King John's Castle.