Plans to convert disused Dungarvan building into seven-storey hotel

Michael J Ryan plans to demolish a 1970s office block, known as Bridge House, in Dungarvan

One of Waterford’s best-known businessmen has lodged a planning application for a seven-storey hotel complex close to Dungarvan town centre.

Michael J Ryan plans to demolish a 1970s office block, known as ‘Bridge House’ at the junction of Davitt’s Quay and Richard A Walsh Street.

The disused building, overlooking the expansive local harbour, was formerly the Glanbia laboratory and office complex and has been vacant since the mid-1990s. 

Mr Ryan purchased it from the Flynn Group about 15 years ago.

The application includes the provision of 42 conventional hotel bedrooms and a similar number of aparthotel rooms — for longer stays, with kitchens included in the accommodation — on floors one to six, with balconies and terrace areas. 

The sixth floor will also include a penthouse suite.

The ground floor will accommodate two function halls, a lobby/reception, a publicly accessible café and bar, with indoor and outdoor seating areas.

Solar PV cells will adorn the roof.

The application also seeks to provide a 48-space car park, including three disability bays and 26 bicycle racks.

A gated public lane-way will connect two adjoining streets.

Mr Ryan is the proprietor of the Al Eile stud farm at Kilgobnet, some six kilometres north of Dungarvan.

The farm made international headlines in 2013 when selling a yearling colt for €2.85m. 

The business also raced the colt’s broodmare, Finsceal Beo, to win both the Irish and English 1,000 Guineas in 2007.

In recent years the multi-millionaire businessman has sought to invest heavily in Dungarvan.

He bought and restored the 19th-century former bank building adjacent to Bridge House in 2017 and converted it into a bar and restaurant.

Last January, he received planning for a 40-bed hotel and restaurant, with a car park, on two sites divided by a roadway, within 50 metres from Bridge House. 

That development has yet to start.

In July 2021, Waterford Council and subsequently An Bord Pleanála refused Mr Ryan an initial planning application for a nine-story, 65-room boutique hotel on the Bridge House site. 

It would have been by far the tallest building in the town.

Both authorities deemed it visually inappropriate and excessively domineering.

Dungarvan is enjoying a burgeoning reputation as a tourist town, enhanced by a highly successful greenway, surrounded by splendid scenery and willing to gamble on such innovative enterprises as year-round outdoor dining.

However, the town is also seen as lacking in tourist accommodation, with just two hotels, totalling around 200 beds.

The council’s decision on the new application is due on January 24, 2024.