Kerry developer still committed to 34-storey hotel on historic Cork City quay

Time runs out next March for Tower Properties' Custom House Quay plan 

The clock is ticking on a proposal by Tower Development Properties Ltd to redevelop Custom House Quay in Cork City, where they have permission to build a 34-storey hotel. The planning grant expires next March, however Cork City Council says the owner of the site ‘remains focused’ on developing it. Picture: Chani Anderson

Tower Development Properties Ltd is committed to delivering a 34-storey hotel on Cork city’s Custom House Quay, even though no visible development has taken place since the project was given the go-ahead more than four years ago.

Cork City Council has engaged with the developers and told the Irish Examiner that “the owner remains focused on developing the site in line with the granted planning permission”, which runs out in March next year.

The application for the development was lodged in July 2019 by Tower Development Properties Ltd and permission was granted by the council in October 2020. It was then appealed to An Bord Pleanála (now An Coimisiún Pleanála), who endorsed the council’s decision in March 2021. 

Custom House Quay, formerly home to the Port of Cork company, is the site of a series of bonded warehouses, protected structures of national significance, which have become symbols of dereliction in recent years.

An artist’s impression of what the 34-storey hotel and associated development would look like on Custom House Quay, the old Port of Cork site.

Cork City Council said it “fully supports the development of this important heritage and gateway site”.

“Following engagement, the owner remains focused on developing the site in line with the granted planning permission and Cork City Council will continue to keep this site under regular review,” a Council spokesperson said.

City planners previously said that the site “is without argument the most important in Cork City”, given its maritime heritage and visual prominence.

The directors of Tower Development Properties Ltd are Ballinskelligs natives Kevin O’Sullivan (61) and Marian O’Sullivan (69). Mr O’Sullivan is also a director of Clontarf St Developments, the company that had proposed to build the Prism, a 15-storey glass office, earmarked for a site near the city’s main bus terminus at Parnell Place, which failed to materialise, although piling works were carried out three years ago.

Planning permission for that project expired last August and a planner for the council recommended an extension not be granted on the basis that substantial works had not been carried out. However, Cork City Council granted an extension until August 2029.

While the planning process around these ambitious projects was playing out, siblings of the two directors of Tower Development Properties Ltd — who were involved in Navillus Consulting, a large construction firm in New York City — found themselves on the wrong side of the law. 

Dónal O’Sullivan (65) and Helen O’Sullivan (64), brother and sister of Kevin and Marian, along with Tipperary native Pádraig Naughton (54), were all convicted in the US of involvement in a payroll scheme that defrauded labour unions of $1m in benefits’ funds over a six-year period.

The proposed development includes the Port of Cork bonded warehouses. The protected structures are a cityscape icon which have become symbols of dereliction in recent years. Picture: Chani Anderson.

All three lost their appeal to have their convictions overturned last week.

The court had found they had defrauded the unions by using a third party firm, trading as Allied, to pay around 100 Navillus employees, without making the contributions owed to benefits’ funds. In addition, Mr Naughton had not disclosed the separate payroll system to the unions’ auditors. Dónal, founder and former CEO and president of Navillus Contracting, one of New York’s biggest construction firms, and Helen, who ran the company payroll, were indicted in 2020 and convicted in 2021, along with financial controller Mr Naughton. 

The two men were sentenced in June 2023 to six months imprisonment while Helen was sentenced to two years of probation. Mr O’Sullivan was also ordered to pay $1.276m (€1.28m) in restitution to the unions’ benefits funds.

All three appealed their conviction but, last week, the New York city-headquartered US court of appeals for the second circuit — which reviews decisions made by lower courts — upheld their convictions.

Donal had argued in his appeal that the government’s circumstantial evidence “failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had the requisite knowledge and intent to wrongfully withhold payments to the benefits’ plans”, but the court of appeal disagreed.

The Court also rejected Ms O’Sullivan’s argument that the evidence against her was insufficient. Instead the Court said there was “substantial evidence that Helen knowingly and intentionally played a critical role in facilitating Navillus’s and Allied’s relationship, as well as the scheme to avoid contributions to the benefits’ funds”.

“Like Dónal, Helen had signatory authority for Navillus’s bank accounts, and 233 cheques, totalling over $6m, bore Helen’s signature and were paid to Allied from February 2011 through December 2016,” the court said.

Mr Naughton’s argument that there was “insufficient evidence to suggest that he intended to participate in the scheme” was also rejected. Having examined the trial court record, the court of appeal found that “despite Naughton’s attempt to downplay his role in the criminal scheme, the jury could reasonably infer that he had the requisite knowledge and intent”.

In a summary order affirming the trial convictions, the court of appeal said it had considered the appellants’ arguments and found them to be “without merit”.

“For this reason we affirm the judgment,” the judges said.

This article was amended on July 22, to include an update that the Prism project secured a planning extension to August 2029.