The new hotel will be built at a vacant site on Oliver Plunkett Street Lower
Site where the hotel will stand on Connell Street/Lwr Oliver Plunkett St
Planning permission has been granted for a new ten-storey hotel in Cork city centre that will transform a set of currently vacant commercial buildings into modern tourist accommodation. Plans were submitted to Cork City Council in March of this year by Irish property group Starstone Property Investment Ltd. and were approved just days before Christmas.
The hotel will be located along Oliver Plunkett Street Lower, where it connects to Connell Street. The site is located near the main bus station and across the road from the fifteen-storey Prism Tower development. Starstone Property already manages a number of properties in Meath, Drogheda, and Dublin, with this expansion marking its first project in Cork.
Permission was granted by Cork City Council, subject to 25 conditions, which include details regarding noise levels, waste disposal, traffic management, and the installation or preservation of public amenities in the area. Three submissions were filed by locals living and working in the area, and while one expressed support for extra accommodation in the city centre, other residents raised concerns about the development.
In their objections, these residents raised concerns about traffic impacts, the loss of privacy and sunlight and the potential impact on the historic streetscape. One resident also felt that the ten-storey hotel would be ‘out of scale’ with the surrounding area, describing the hotel as ‘completely out of character’ in an area that has ‘always been more human in scale.’
After considering these objections, the council ultimately approved the application, and construction on the project will commence in due course. Permission was granted for up to 180 beds, a kitchen and dining area, reception area, a new gym and all other associated site works.
Cork City has been seriously short of hotel rooms for several decades. In 2023, the city’s hotels reported a 90%, year-round occupancy rate, showing just how much the available hotel space is in demand.
There have been two new hotels opened since then, the Premier Inn on Morrison’s Quay and the Moxy across the river from the Opera House on Camden Quay.
However, the demand for alternative accommodation such as AirBnBs – which in turn takes properties off the rental market – and the rates charged by Cork’s Hotels point to the need for more beds in the city.