Clarence Hotel ‘may be sold’ if plans not approved

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Failure to get approval for the ambitious scheme to redevelop and extend Dublin’s Clarence Hotel could lead to its owners – including U2’s Bono and The Edge – selling the property, city planners have been warned. In a detailed response to the planners’ request for further information on the €150 million plan, architects Foster + Partners say the alternative would “most likely be a down-market budget hotel or . . . the closing of a long-established Dublin landmark business”. Last March, the planners requested detailed additional information on the proposed development, including what “exceptional circumstances” would justify the demolition of all but the quayfront facades of the hotel and five adjoining buildings, which are all protected structures. In their response, the architects say the proposed redevelopment is necessary if the Clarence is to become “a world hotel that fits into the highest echelon of this genre, to be mentioned in the same breath as the Burj Al Arab in Dubai or Raffles Hotel in Singapore”.

The Irish Times