Objections stall plans to revamp hotel site into upmarket retail store

Plans to convert a former hotel in Cork city centre into an upmarket retail store have been put on hold following objections from a number of local businesses and An Taisce.

An Bord Pleanála has received a number of appeals against Cork City Council’s recent decision to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the former Victoria Hotel on St Patrick’s Street.

RESAM, a development firm owned by Joe Donnelly, a former bookmaker who bought the property in 2015 for a figure believed to be around €750,000, plans to redevelop and refurbish the site of the former 33-bedroom hotel into “a high order retail outlet”.