Business

Officials signal green light for new apartment development on Belfast restaurant site

An artist's impression by Like Architects of the proposed Dublin Road apartments
An artist's impression by Like Architects of the proposed Dublin Road apartments An artist's impression by Like Architects of the proposed Dublin Road apartments

A TEN storey apartment complex on Belfast’s Dublin Road looks set to go ahead after City Council planning officials gave it the thumbs up.

John Smyth's Estates’ £7 million proposal would see 71 flats, including a roof top terrace, balconies and a restaurant, built along the busy thoroughfare

The apartments, which fall within the Belfast city centre boundary, will require the demolition of existing buildings at 57-63 Dublin Road.

The popular Kitsch Restaurant, ranked among by Trip Advisor as among the top eateries in the cities, has occupied one of the buildings for the past five years. The second site was the former home of Emerald City Chinese.

A report recommending the approval of the project is set to go before Belfast City Council’s planning committee on Tuesday. The recommendation to approve the ten storey block is subject to a number of conditions. One key condition will ask the developer to secure ‘green travel’ measures at the building to promote alternatives to car use.

The company behind the new building, John Smyth's Estates Ltd is a family-owned real estate firm based in Holywood, Co Down.

If the project goes ahead as expected, the 71 apartments will sit next to The Gallery, the 66-unit apartment development built by Gary McCausland and the Richland Group.

The ground floor restaurant unit of the building has remained shut since February 2018.

O’Toole and Starkey, the planning consultants for John Smyth’s Estates’ project, are also involved in a similar project across the street. The apartment complex at the corner of Dublin Road and Salisbury Street could add another 76 units to the Dublin Road.

Meanwhile, planning officials in Belfast have recommended refusing a plan to turn a site close to Lanyon Place Station (formerly Central Station) into a temporary car park.

Belfast developer Paddy Kearney’s Kilmona Group had previously launched a £55m bid to turn the site into one of the north’s biggest ever office developments.

The £55m project prompted a legal action last year after residents of the inner-city Markets community successfully challenged the scheme at the High Court.

The bid to turn the site into a 244-space car park was launched by Loughview Leisure, the hospitality company owned by Kilmona Group.

A report to be considered by the city council’s planning committee on Tuesday, revealed that Loughview Leisure had indicated the site would be used as a car park for two years.

“It has been advised that the temporary use of the site as a car park is a stop gap to provide funds and to allow the future regeneration plans of the site to be considered.”

The recommendation to refuse will be discussed by the committee after a call-in request by DUP councillor George Dorrian.

New developer Wilton Group also looks to have failed in a £4.5m bid to redevelop a listed Georgian townhouse in Belfast.

The company’s proposal involves turning the property at College Square North into eight apartments, with 15 more flats built in a new five storey development behind.