CIÉ seeking backers for huge property scheme

The Project was put on hold due to the downturn

STATE transport company CIÉ is looking for outside backers to help redevelop 4.85 acres beside Connolly Station in Dublin, close to the IFSC and city centre.

The property is currently taken up with a car park and railway sidings. Plans to build a hotel, homes and offices have been in the works for years.

Connolly is the country’s busiest railway station, with around 30,000 passengers passing through each day.

CIÉ received planning permission in 2012 for a scheme on a 3.2 hectare site that will include a 110-bedroom hotel, apartments and office space.

It has dubbed the project the Connolly Quarter Development.

The 10-year planning permission secured by CIÉ in 2012 was for 13 buildings, providing almost 82,000sqm of mixed-use space.

Apart from the six-storey hotel, there will also be 106 apartments and 50,000sqm of office space.

There will be underground parking for 550 cars, and a museum.

The project had been put on hold after planning approval was secured, due to the downturn.

But now there is significant demand for office space, hotel rooms and residential accommodation in the capital.

The single largest office space element of the scheme is an up to seven-storey, 13,450sqm block at the junction of Seville Place, and a new street that will be constructed which will link Seville Place and Sheriff Street Lower.

CIÉ has already teamed up with developer Johnny Ronan and Cardinal Capital to build the Aqua Vetro tower behind Tara Street railway station in Dublin.

But the initial plan for Dublin’s tallest building has been blocked by planners.