P lanning appeal lodged over billionaire John Malone’s Dublin Hilton hotel plan
A QUESTION mark has been thrown over plans by US billionaire John Malone to add a new seven-storey 97-bedroom extension to his Hilton hotel in Dublin.
Last month, Dublin City Council gave Malone’s Charlemont Leisure the go-ahead for the plan that will result in the Hilton Dublin City Hotel having a total of 305 bedrooms if the extension project eventually gets the green light.
Concerns have been expressed by An Taisce and local residents over the plan for the hotel, which overlooks the Grand Canal in the city.
Mr Malone is reputed to be the largest landowner in the US and he purchased the hotel for around €30m in 2014. Mr Malone also owns the Westin Hotel and the Trinity City hotel in Dublin.
The planner in the case of the Hilton extension stated that given the city centre location, the existing height context and the previous planning history on the site, the proposed development is considered acceptable.
However, appeals have been lodged against the decision to An Bord Pleanála by Harcourt Green Management Ltd and Alvin Price.
Harcourt Green Management raised a number of concerns over the plan when it was before Dublin City Council.
In the objection lodged with the council, it stated that the Hilton plan “will greatly degrade the environmental, amenity and living standard of its (Harcourt Green) residents”.
The objection stated that the proposed extension of the hotel and particularly the northern block is of excessive bulk and scale and should not be allowed. A resident at Harcourt Green, Alvin Price, claimed to the City Council that the extension “would create overshadowing and blocking of sunlight to the apartments by reason of proximity, height and scale of the proposed development”. The appeal of the decision to grant comes against the background of a recent report from the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation saying that there is a need for 30 additional hotels, providing 5,000 additional rooms, in the capital by 2020/21.