Plans lodged for hotel on Leisureplex site in Cork City
The Leisureplex premises is located on the corner of MacCurtain Street and Brian Boru Street.
Plans for a hotel development in Cork city centre have come before Cork City Council.
Located on the Leisureplex site at 1 MacCurtain Street and Brian Boru Street, it would represent a significant development in the city if approved. Planners are assessing the proposal from PI Hotels and Restaurants Ireland Limited.
The reported earlier this year that the Whitbread group, which owns the Premier Inn brand, has purchased the site.
The development would include the demolition of some structures on the site and modifications to others to build a hotel over one-, five-, and seven-storeys.
Some 173 hotel bedrooms and associated facilities, including a bar, restaurant, kitchen and staff facilities, are proposed. The new structure would measure up to 7660 square metres, if approved.
The site in question also includes a protected structure in the former postal sorting offices. The site was previously a cinema which remained open for more than 50 years. The Coliseum cinema, with 700 seats, opened in 1913. It eventually closed its doors in 1964.
Whitbread opened its first Premier Inn outside of Dublin on Cork City’s Morrison's Quay in January, where it invested €30m in a three-star 187-bed hotel as part of a wider €45m development, creating 40 jobs in the process.
The Premier Inn brand is pursuing an aggressive growth strategy in the Irish market, with five Dublin hotels and another planned for Galway. It currently has more than 1,000 bedrooms across Ireland, and is planning to build up to 3,500.
Elsewhere, plans to revamp a vacant lot on Cork City's Dyke Parade have also come before Cork City Council.
Spreadstir Ltd has applied for permission to redevelop 19 Dyke Parade from a former residential home into a guest house.
The proposed new structure would include 22 en-suite guest bedrooms.
A series of works to the building are proposed, including the replacement of part of the roof. The proposal includes works to a protected structure.
Meanwhile, German retailer Lidl has lodged a planning application seeking permission to build a new supermarket in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.
Located on some 2,958 sq m in a three- to four-storey building on Castlelake Avenue, the new supermarket would include a sales area, bakery, public facilities, staff facilities, and 85 parking spaces.
It would be accessed via Castlelake Avenue, if approved.
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