Belfast City Council has approved the development of a £25 million hotel in the city’s Cathedral Quarter.
The 164-bed hotel is set to be erected from the former Nambarrie Tea Factory building on the corner of Waring Street and Victoria Street.
The plan will see a three-storey extension to the old factory, which will include a rooftop “sky” bar.
A ground-floor restaurant, a fitness room and meeting rooms are also included in the current plans.
The hotel is backed by Essex-based investment company Propiteer.
The £25 million investment will be a Moxy hotel, a sub-group of the Merriot Hotel brand.
Propiteer’s website states that the Moxy will bring “Marriott International’s contemporary brand to the historic Cathedral Quarter of Northern Ireland’s capital city”.
“Following the acquisition of the old Nambarrie tea factory in Belfast, a prominent building in the city centre, Propiteer have worked closely with city councillors and the planning department to sympathetically retain structural elements of the existing building, whilst designing a unique seven storey hotel reflective of its cultural surroundings.”
It also promises that the ground floor will be designed to accommodate live music.
The Belfast City Council’s Planning Committee approved the proposal unanimously at their meeting on June 14.
In the council’s Professional Planning Report, it was found that the “three-storey extension was considered acceptable following key design changes to minimise its impact on the character and appearance of the host building, setting of adjacent listed buildings and the conservation area”.
Their backing comes despite objections from the owners of the nearby Merchant hotel on Skipper Street.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, owners Beannchor put forward concerns to the council over the lack of notice of the new development as well as overshadowing.
A council Planning Officer raised their objections at the meeting on June 14, stating their concerns that an extension would “give rise to noise, odour, overlooking and overshadowing impacts on the amenity of residents in their hotel.”
At the meeting, officers found that there would be “no unacceptable overshadowing” due to the separation distance between the two buildings.
The report recorded one other objection to the hotel, which queried if the “heritage” street sign would be retained.
The report said that the objector had “no objection to any other part of the design proposed above, only to preserve a piece of our heritage.”
It is understood that the sign will be retained as part of the proposals.
