Scottish company takes 50% stake in hotel-retail complex

The Scottish property company, Morrison Developments plc, is to take a 50 per cent stake in a major hotel and retail complex planned for a site just off O'Connell Street in Dublin.

The development, which will be built at the junction of Parnell Street and Moore Street, will have an end value of around £60 million.

It will link in to the proposed £100 million Carlton shopping and leisure centre to be built on the former Carlton cinema site. The combined scheme on the west side of O'Connell Street is expected to provide a much needed anchor for its renaissance. Morrison's decision to buy into the Dublin site is another signal that the company is now looking for commercial development opportunities in the city.

A subsidiary, Morrison Homes, was recently refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanala for 113 apartments on a waterfront site opposite The Point Depot at Thorncastle Street.

The company is also planning to build several hundred houses in a joint venture with a landowner in Naas, Co Kildare. Morrison has paid £6 million for its 50 per cent stake in the high-profile Parnell Street and Moore Street site, which was assembled by Garrett Kelleher's company, Shelbourne Developments.

Construction company G & T Crampton has been appointed main contractors for the mixed development, which will start within two months and is due to be completed by May, 2001.

The project had been expected to get under way almost two years ago but was held up because of objections by Keelgrove Properties, a Treasury Holdings subsidiary.

Last month, the High Court dismissed what was called a "spoiling action" to frustrate the development. Mr Kelleher said the hold up meant designated area tax breaks had been lost, though the development will carry 100 per cent capital allowances. Three international hotel chains and an Irish hotelier, including the US-based Holiday Inn, are in competition to lease the 197 bedroom hotel, which will form the centre-piece of the development. The four-star hotel will have a 3,000 sq ft lobby on Parnell Street, with the other facilities on the second, third, fourth and fifth floors. The hotel will have 100 car-parking spaces in the basement.

There will be 90,000 sq ft of retail facilities at basement, ground and first floor levels. The basement tenants are likely to include a clothes retailer, while the anchor store will have 5,000 sq ft on the junction of Parnell Street and Moore Street and a further 15,000 to 20,000 sq ft on the first floor.

The retail area at first floor level will link in to Millennium Mall, a continental-style galleria to be developed behind the art deco facade of the Carlton cinema.

The mall will extend for 330 ft westwards to Moore Street, ending directly opposite the ILAC shopping centre. Flanking the listed Carlton facade will be a pair of new buildings designed in a "contemporary art deco style".

One of these will be built on the derelict site between the Carlton and Fingal County Council's office block, which is do be turned into a 61-bedroom hotel.