One More Thing: This year has started well for the O'Dwyer brothers, Liam and Des, who have had objections to their proposed 300-bed hotel on Dublin's Abbey Street withdrawn.
The pair, who own the Dublin-based Capital Bars, are developing the €100 million project as a joint venture with CIÉ and Dublin Bus, who plan to locate an interchange at ground level with the hotel above.
Dublin City Council gave the project the green light last September but the decision was appealed by the Rail Procurement Agency and New Horizons, a local business.
Construction work should begin this summer with the hotel due to open in late 2010. Bennett Construction is responsible for the build, while Anglo Irish Bank is providing the debt.
Just before Christmas, the O'Dwyers added a planning application for a 90-bed hotel at the rear of Zanzibar, their superpub which adjoins the Abbey Street site. They want to integrate the two properties.
The hotels will be pitched at the three-star market, which has thrived in recent times on the back of business brought here by low-cost airlines.
In recent years, the O'Dwyers have gradually shifted their focus away from pubs, where profits at Capital Bars have drained away.
Adding 390 rooms on Abbey Street to their existing Trinity and Grafton Capital hotels in Dublin will make it one of the biggest operators in the city.
It could coincide with the closure of Seán Dunne's hotels in Ballsbridge, which would remove a large chunk of bed stock from Dublin city.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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