Permission sought for hotel on Andrews Lane Theatre site

Planning permission has been sought for a 155-bedroom “compact luxury” hotel on the site of the former Andrews Lane Theatre near Dame Street in central Dublin.

The application has been made by Appalachian Property Holdings Ltd and the total investment, including the purchase of the site, will be about €21 million.

The bedrooms will be compact in size, typically 14 or 15sq m. There will be a reception and coffee dock on the ground-floor level but no restaurant or bar.

The development will involve the demolition of the old theatre, which is being used as a nightclub, and the construction of a nine-storey over lower ground-floor hotel.

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Appalachian was set up in April of this year and its directors are Neville O'Boyle and Mark Butler, who own KeyWaste, one of the country's leading waste management groups.

They plan to run the hotel as an independent brand with an opening date of spring 2019, subject to planning permission being secured. Room rates are expected to be about €150 a night for what is a relatively new concept in the hotel industry.

"Its primary target audience comprises of well-informed, contemporary and tech-savvy business and leisure individuals who want style, location and value for money," the urban design concept document supporting the application to Dublin City Council states.

“This is reflected throughout the ‘limited service’ hotel with sophisticated technology assisting the guests from self-service check-in to compact sophisticated bedrooms, which provide guests with the ability to customise their own environment.”

Hotel-room shortage

This is one of a large number of new hotels being planned for Dublin, where there is a significant shortage of guest accommodation.

According to data from STR, hotel occupancy rates in the city hit a record 93.6 per cent in September.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation has forecast that 8,000 new hotel bedrooms are needed in Dublin by 2020 to satisfy demand.

Some 5,550 extra bedrooms are expected to be added in the city from projects that are under way or are in the planning phase. Most of these will not come to fruition until 2018 or later.