'Monastic no star' hotel for Vicar Street

Crosbie Property has submitted a planning application for a 200-bedroom "no star" hotel as part of the Vicar Street music venue which will be almost "monastic" in terms of its facilities, says developer Harry Crosbie.

Designed by Grafton Architects, the hotel will not seek a star rating from Bord Fáilte because it will be "too basic to have any stars", says Crosbie

The press release announcing the planning application says the polished concrete walls of the rooms will be "a homage to Corbusier and Eileen Gray". Crosbie himself describes the rooms as "cells to sleep in with concrete walls and a very good bed with a duvet".

There will be a communal TV room on the top floor. The most lavish aspect of the development will be the €1 million spent on art works by young Irish artists for the bedrooms.

Crosbie says everything else will be "very basic" such as the freight lift which will bring patrons to the residents' bar and check-in area in a "big glass box on top of the hotel" which will look out over the city. The proposal is to locate the hotel to the rear of the the music venue and demolish an existing warehouse on the site.

He says that the "no star" approach is part of a worldwide trend to offer hotel accommodation "at the lowest possible prices".

Packages will be available to people attending shows and concerts at Vicar Street. the new Point Arena and the Libeskind theatre in the docklands, and room rates will start at €50.