Ambitions by Eamon Waters’s Sretaw Hotel Group to further expand in Dublin have been dealt a double blow.
An Bord Pleanála and Dublin City Council issued separate refusals to plans by Mr Waters for two hotel projects in the city centre.
In one decision, the appeals board refused planning permission for a 61-bedroom hotel close to St Stephen’s Green. It included plans for a new eight storey hotel on a site known as Textile House on Johnson’s Place and Clarendon Market opposite the Grafton Hotel in Dublin.
The development was to be an extension to the 127 bedroom Grafton Hotel.
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In March 2024, the city council granted permission to Mr Waters’s Grafton Residence UC for the scheme. However, it was stalled after Colm McNamara and Stock Design (Ireland) Ltd lodged third party appeals with An Bord Pleanála.
Dismissing its own inspector’s recommendation to grant permission, the appeals board refused it. It concluded the plan would adversely impact upon the development potential of third party properties to the south of the site and would be likely to seriously injure the amenities and depreciate the value of those properties.
The board ruled that such an adverse impact on the adjoining lands would militate against future urban consolidation and densification and would conflict with the land use zoning objective in the Dublin City Development Plan.
The board explained that in deciding not to accept the inspector’s recommendation, it felt the placing of a significant number of windows on the shared site boundaries would significantly and adversely impact upon the redevelopment potential of those city properties to the south of the site.
Meanwhile, the Dublin City Council has refused planning permission to Mr Waters’s Peachbeach UC for a 113 bedroom hotel on Baggot Street Lower as it felt the scheme would cause serious injury to the special architectural character of the Georgian area.
Planners concluded the proposed six story over basement scheme was inappropriate in terms of its extensive demolition of historic facades along Baggotrath Place and Fitzwilliam Lane.
They also found the significant increase in windows along with the eastern site boundary would directly impact on the development potential of the adjacent site and would have a detrimental impact on the protected structure in terms of overlooking, historic character and setting.
The council found the scheme would contravene policies of the Dublin City Development Plan and would create an undesirable precedent for similar type development.
The council refused permission for Peachbeach UC last year for the same site when the firm proposed a 66 bedroom hotel and 23 apartments as part of a six storey scheme.
