A €500 million plan to transform the 5.5-acre plot stretching from O’Connell Street to Moore Street has got its first green light, after Dublin City Council approved planning applications for the scheme.
The vast city block formerly known as the Carlton site stretches west from O’Connell Street to Moore Street, and north from Henry Street to Parnell Street.
It includes parts which have lain vacant and derelict for more than 40 years, according to The Irish Times, and is being developed under six separate planning applications.
UK property group Hammerson last June lodged three applications for a mixed retail, office and residential scheme on the site.
Two of the first three applications, which focus on Moore Street and Henry Street, and include residential, hotel, retail, restaurant and cafe as well as cultural uses, have now been approved by the council.
For the third application, for a site towards the northern end of Moore Street at O’Rahilly Parade, the council has asked Hammerson to submit an amended daylight and sunlight analysis of the effect the development will have on neighbouring apartments.
1916 Rising
Despite their approval, the first and second applications have proved controversial.
One involves the land surrounding the 1916 Rising National Monument buildings at 14-17 Moore Street. These State-owned buildings are due to be developed separately as a Rising Commemorative Centre costing €16.25 million.
The application surrounding this site was controversial as it proposed a large archway beside the national monument which broke up the Moore Street terrace.
Under conditions attached to the grant of permission, the archway must be reduced in scale and its detailing more closely aligned to 17 Moore Street.
The second approved application deals with buildings on Henry Street and the southern end of Moore Street.
It involves the construction of a nine-storey hotel and the demolition of two buildings: 38 Henry Street which will be replaced with a passageway and 41 Henry Street, at the corner of Moore Street, would be replaced with a new building.
The council received a large number of objections to the scheme, including from relatives of 1916 leaders, and it is likely the decisions will be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
