More than twenty years ago there was a Head Shop at 164 Capel Street but it was set on fire. To quote from court documents: “The facts of the case were that the appellant and another man deliberately set fire to a head shop premises called Nirvana situate at 164 Capel Street, Dublin 1, in the early hours of the 12th of February 2010. The shop specialised in the sale of psychotropic substances which, though now illegal, were legal at the time. in the sale of phototropic substances which were legal at the time. The fire also spread to the two premises on either side of Nirvana, namely to a premises called The Souvenir Seeds Store at 164A Capel Street, which also sold then legal psychotropic substances, and to Utopia at 163 Capel Street which was a sex shop.”
This photograph was taken towards the end of 2022 however nothing really happened until a week or two when a demolition crew arrived to demolish the Dublin Working Mens Club at 33-36 Little Strand Street. I must admit that I was totally unaware of the the building and am not sure if it is being cleared to allow the construction of the new hotel.
[UPDATE] I checked the planning permission documents and the footprint of the hotel includes 162-164 Capel Street and 33-36 Strand Street Little []
In September 2021 An Bord Pleanála disagreed with Dublin City Council’s contention that there were too many hotels in the city centre and awarded permission, following an appeal, to Ringline Investments for a nine-storey, 142-bedroom hotel for Capel Street, in Dublin. The appeals board decision overturned a ruling by the City Council to refuse planning to Ringline for the hotel after expressing concerns about the “existing over-concentration” of hotels in the area.
Some objections were due to the fact that about 2,150 hotel rooms have been permitted in recent years within 350 metres of the site on Capel Street.
Apartment hotel group City ID recently announced the acquisition of a site on Capel Street in Dublin. The latest addition to its brand is the next step in its wider growth strategy across Europe and beyond. Originally the site received full planning permission for 142 bedrooms with food and beverage and meeting facilities and once developed will extend to approximately 5,471 sq m / 58,890 sq ft over 9-storey over basement.
My understanding is that the complex now under construction will operate 104 apartments with a diverse room mix. All apartments will feature fully equipped kitchens and living spaces, suited for short and long stays. The ground floor public area will include an open lobby, a deli, and a bar.
The acquisition of Capel Street adds to its three locations in central Amsterdam and to its latest site in central London’s Victoria district. Together with pension provider APG and Aware Super, City ID is implementing its strategy of international growth. The goal is to invest more than € 1 billion over the next five years to grow its international platform of apartment hotels across major European cities.
LITTLE STRAND STREET RUNS BEHIND THE ORMOND HOTEL SITE
There are two sections to Strand Street the section from Lower Liffey Street to Capel Street is Great Strand Street and upon crossing Capel Street is becomes Little Strand Street. There are two building sites on Little Strand Street and to the best of my knowledge a hotel is to be built on the one at the junction with Capel street. During the planning phase the city council claimed plans for the hotel at the corner of Capel Street and Strand Street Little would “exacerbate” the over concentration of hotels and fundamentally undermine the vision for the provision of a dynamic mix of uses within the city centre area, however planning permission has been granted.
Little Strand Street is even less known to most Dubliners that Great Strand Street. Little Strand street runs behind the construction site that once was the Ormond Hotel and it connects Capel Street to East Arran Street which in turn connects Mary’s Abbey to Ormond Quay.
A €25 million redevelopment of the Ormond Hotel on Ormond Quay was expected to have been complete by March or April of 2020 but work works appears to have been suspended.
By the end of 2019, there was planning permission in place for as many as a hundreds hotels apart-hotels, and student accommodation complexes in Dublin city and the majority were within walking distance of my apartment. Today in 2022 there are many half-built and unoccupied hotels. At this stage I cannot determine if the Ormond Hotel redevelopment project is to continued but judging by the state of the construction of the site there is every reason to be concerned.
The Ormond Hotel was located on Dublin’s historic Georgian quays, which were laid out by the Duke of Ormond in the late 17th century. The Ormond Hotel, which began operating from the site in 1889, was building of special cultural significance on account of it being the fictional location for the Sirens episode of James Joyce’s magnum opus, Ulysses, which chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904.
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