Choice of new hotels includes a second Clarion

Kasterlee Ltd, which is building a 16-storey hotel on the banks of the Shannon, has applied for revisions of its plan to build the third highest building in the State.

The company, which is owned by the Choice Hotels Ireland group, has applied for the omission of a mini-roundabout at the entrance to the Limerick Docks gates and the construction of a coach set-down area.

The group also hopes to build a leisure centre on the first floor and increase the parapet height of the 167-ft high building.

Construction of the building, to be called the Clarion Hotel, is underway and the building, which has a boat-like shape as part of a nautical theme, is expected to be complete in May.

Choice Hotels International also has the Quality Hotel brand and runs more than 20 hotels in the State. The Limerick project is costing in the region of £20 million (€25.39m). The company recently opened a Clarion Hotel in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre.

The Limerick building, which already dominates over Steamboat Quay, will be the third highest building in the State after Cork County Hall and Liberty Hall, Dublin.

A third Clarion Hotel is due to open at Liffey Valley, Co Dublin, in December 2002.

Meanwhile, Kings Island Developments, a consortium understood to include the Dublin-based director, Mr Gerry O'Reilly, and Sisks, has applied to build a 107-bedroom, five-storey hotel on Limerick's King's Island close to Lock Quay, which forms part of the N7. The application, however, is meeting with opposition from local residents while D·chas, the Heritage Service, has claimed the development would erase a medieval laneway and ignores important monuments.

Kings Island Developments has also applied to build 175 apartments, 12 office units and 11 retail units along with a leisure centre and football pitch across at Healy's Field, across from the proposed hotel.

The £30 million (€38.09) development includes student accommodation and a football club pavilion.