THE company behind Ten Square hotel has plans for a new hotel on Belfast’s Chichester Street.
A planning application has been filed for a 146-bed hotel on the upper floors of 69-87 Chichester Street by Kilmona Property Ltd.
The ground entrance of the building includes a Centra store and Granny Annies Kitchen bar. The former office building is known as Centre House.
There are also plans submitted for a new build on the same site to accommodate a further 17 bedrooms.
Kilmona, which is behind the scheme, is headed by businessman Patrick Kearney.
Mr Kearney operates a portfolio of hotels here under the Loughview Leisure name. This is made up of the Ten Square, Chimney Corner and Loughshore Hotels.
It also recently purchased the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick and revealed plans to turn the 200-acre hotel and golf resort into a DoubleTree by Hilton brand, which will be the first of its kind here.
DoubleTree is considered one of the premier brands within the Hilton Collection.
At the time, Christopher Kearney, Loughview Leisure Group Finance Director, said: “We’re thrilled to add the Hilton Templepatrick resort to our current portfolio of hotels. DoubleTree by Hilton is one of the fastest growing brands within Hilton’s portfolio and we’re very excited to be the first of this franchise in Northern Ireland.”
The company said the acquisition “is expected to add significantly to the profitability and asset value of the group.”
In its latest company accounts for the year ending June 30, 2021, Kilmona revealed it had boosted turnover to £18.2m from £18m. This is in spite of being forced to close its hotels during the pandemic.
It is expected the company’s property arm helped bolster that growth despite challenges.
Meanwhile its hotel income dropped by around £6m over the period to £1.6m.
The financial report for Loughview Leisure revealed the company entered into a contract with the Government to lease two of its hotels for asylum seekers, “which has resulted in 100% occupancy”.
The contract, it said, would last 18 months.
According to Future Belfast, Centre House (previously RAC House) is a five to eight storey office building at the corner of Chichester Street (nos. 69 – 87) and Victoria Street (nos. 149 – 159) comprising ground floor retail units (c12,600 sw ft) and office accommodation above (c62,300 sq ft).
It said the building’s Chichester Street fronting — the part referred to in the planning application — was built in the mid to late 70s and has five storeys, while the second phase, built in the 1990s is eight storeys high.
