Planning permission granted for Belfast hotel

Belfast City Council has granted planning permission for a 206-bedroom hotel on the site of the former Belfast Metropolitan College adjacent to Blackstaff Square.

The Cookstown-based developer McAleer & Rushe acquired the site just over a year ago and intends to turn it into a mixed-use hotel and student accommodation scheme.

Consarc Design Group has designed the 14-storey development, which will comprise restaurants, bars and meeting and conference space.

The site will be situated in the Linen Quarter, which was previously identified by the council as a target area for major regeneration work.

McAleer & Rushe property director Stephen Surphlis said: "This is great news for Belfast, as this is a centrally located hotel scheme, which is designed to complement Belfast's forward looking aspirations and assist in meeting the undersupply in hotel provision.

"The Belfast leisure market has recovered strongly following the downturn, with figures confirming strong occupancy levels and increasing room rates. This new hotel will help to satisfy increasing demand going forward as Belfast rapidly increases in popularity as a leisure and business destination."

McAleer & Rushe also has plans for an adjacent 476-room student housing scheme on McClintock Street and 804-room student housing scheme on College Avenue.
The hotel and two student housing schemes will create more than 300 jobs during the building phase.

The firm has already started the demolition phase of the existing college building and expects to begin construction in early 2016. It said it has received strong interest from established hotel operators.

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