Rose Barrett
Purchased by the Denis O’Brien owned Beacon Hospital in 2020 from American John Maone’s MHL, the once thriving Beacon Hotel stands empty and still awaiting its fate.
Once a busy hub in Sandyford, the new owners submitted a planning application with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLR) which proposed the demolition of the eight-storey hotel and sought a 70-bed extension, along with four apartments for the Beacon One Apartment Block.
The planning application which was approved by DLR also included ancillary admin offices, facilities for staff and patients, a café, new A&E facilities, cancer care facilities, along with a connection to the existing Beacon Hospital at Levels 3 and 8.
During the interim, the hotel building was used as a vaccination centre for healthcare workers from across Dublin South, West Wicklow and Kildare from early 2021.
However, as the Beacon Hospital completed its expansion programme in Limerick last year, the Dublin project faced objections from residents in the Beacon One apartment complex.
At least 70 owners and tenants lodged objections against O’Brien’s €75m+ extensions plans which BPS Planning Consultants claimed went against assurances at the point of purchase that all property owners in Beacon One apartments would permanently retain the existing access arrangements.
At the time, tenants and owners also criticised the visual impact the development would have, given that it proposed the A&E entrance to adjoin the shared courtyard used by Beacon One apartment residents.
With An Bord Pleanála since early 2022, the hotel stands empty, another of Dublin’s ghostly, closed accommodation centres. And file 312718 still reads: “Case is due to be decided by June 15, 2022.”
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