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A 12-storey rental apartment program, including five apartment floors above the Arnotts car park, is planned in the heart of Dublin city.
Developer Noel Smyth’s Fitzwilliam Real Estate is seeking permission from Dublin City Council for nearly 160 apartments on the site that backs onto the Arnotts department store on Henry Street.
The program is the first major residential application made directly to council since the government’s decision to phase out the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) system for large-scale housing projects.
Three years ago, Mr Smyth was granted permission to develop a nine-story hotel on the site, but is now seeking a rental-only apartment development that would be three stories higher.
Above the shop
In a radical twist on the concept of ‘living above the store’, the three open-air upper levels of the existing parking lot would be scrapped and replaced with five floors of apartments. Another two-story block would be located on the roof of the department store itself, with a 12-story unit facing William’s Lane, a narrow path off Middle Abbey Street next to Independent House, the former headquarters of the independent newspapers.
Most of the development involves buildings on Middle Abbey Street, but includes buildings on Prince’s Street North, just off O’Connell Street, next to the GPO.
The 60 studio, 85 one-bedroom and 14 two-bedroom apartment rental construction program would include a number of “common residential amenities,” including coworking spaces, exercise studios, a shared lounge and a “dog wash room”.
Parking spaces
The development would result in the loss of 145 parking spaces, of which 225 remain. The application also aims to extend the operation of the multi-storey car park to 24 hours a day, from the current limits of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Mr. Smyth is the first developer not to use the SHD process for a large-scale construction program since the system was introduced four years ago. Under this system, requests for more than 100 housing or blocks of 200 student places were submitted directly to An Bord Pleanála, thereby bypassing the planning stage of the local authorities.
The system, which removed the right to appeal planning decisions leading to a significant increase in legal actions against the council, is due to end in February. The final SHD pre-planning requests were to be submitted by December 17th.
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