Appeals put brake on new 200-bed hotel near Croke Park

Plans for a new 200-bed hotel owned by the GAA near Croke Park have been put on hold following a number of objections to An Bord Pleanála, including one from a local nursing home.

Two parties are appealing the recent decision of Dublin City Council to grant planning permission for the development of a seven-storey hotel on part of the grounds of Clonliffe College which the GAA acquired from the Archdiocese of Dublin for an estimated €95 million.

It is understood that the GAA has an agreement with leading hotel operator Dalata which will see the stock-market listed group operate the new facility under its Maldron brand.

The GAA also plans to develop a clubhouse and two pitches on the site, which is currently used as a large car park for match days and concerts in Croke Park.

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Consultants acting for the owner of Shrewsbury House nursing home on Clonliffe Road, Margaret Gaughran, claim the scale and design of the proposed hotel “flies in the face” of the council’s objectives and policies for the area.

They said the development would lead to “gross overlooking” of the nursing home’s meeting rooms and private open spaces.

The family-run nursing home also expressed concern that construction work on the hotel would destroy the quiet environment that the 36 residents have enjoyed for many years.

Another appellant and local resident Kate O’Hea claims the proposed height of the hotel is out of character with the surrounding buildings and neighbourhood, and expressed concern that it would overlook houses and apartments on Distillery Road which share a boundary with Clonliffe College’s grounds.

Ms O’Hea said she also feared the hotel would act as a precedent for allowing “further incongruous and inappropriate development throughout the grounds of Clonliffe College”.

The hotel would also be built on a site which had been used as a public park for at least 12 years, she added.

Major development

The proposed hotel is part of a major development planned for the former lands at Clonliffe College, with international real estate investment firm Hines acquiring the remainder for a large-scale housing project comprising 1,650 mostly build-to-rent apartments as well as a crèche and dog park which is scheduled for completion by 2026.

The scheme will reserve 10 per cent of the apartments for affordable housing and another 10 per cent for social housing.

Hines has expressed hope that the first tenants will be able to take up residency in 2023.

Bord Pleanála’s ruling on the appeal against planning permission for the hotel is due by the end of January 2021.