A NEW 25-bedroom Belfast hotel being developed by the owners of Benedicts has been granted planning permission.
A vacant site at 11-17 Donegall Street is to be the setting for the city's latest hotel, as bedroom numbers in the north set to move beyond the 10,000 mark within two years.
The application from Elmoreton Ltd, who run the popular 34-bedroom Benedict's Hotel on Bradbury Place, was first submitted in December 2016, but only now has been given the green light by Belfast City Council for building work to commence.
The plans include the redevelopment of the vacant building to a 25-bedroom hotel, to include a single storey extension as well as a ground floor bar and restaurant and were approved at the end of last month, subject to various conditions.
The latest plans come as the developer is set to add an additional 24-bedrooms to the Benedict's site, now celebrating its 20th year in operation, with initial council approval granted in 2015.
According to the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation there are now over 1,000 bedrooms under construction in Belfast. The majority of these will be open in 2018 bringing the city’s hotel room stock to over 5,000. As many as 832 rooms are set to open in the second quarter of the year alone according to the latest NIHF report.
A large bulk of those rooms are contained within the £53 million Grand Central Hotel, due to open in June. The first artist impressions of the new 304-bedroom development were unveiled yesterday and depict the new first floor bar and restaurant , named the 'Seahorse Bar & Bistro' and the ground floor 'Grand Café'.
Hastings Hotels, marketing director, Julie Hastings confirmed that building work at the north's largest hotel is "running to schedule" ahead of the June opening.
"We are pleased to share internal impressions of the stunning hotel to give people an idea of what they can look forward to. Inspired by the original Grand Central Hotel on Royal Avenue, the new hotel will blend timeless design, classic service and true style fused with glamour and grandeur – simply beautiful, beautifully simple."
