The Grand Hotel in Tramore is subject to a planning application that could see it transformed into a 40 unit apart-hotel.
The Grand Hotel has been likened to Waterford’s Ard Rí as a symbol of waste and missed opportunity that looms over the town.
As reported in The Munster Express in January of this year, Senator Joe Conway recently decried the Grand Hotel’s ongoing disuse, saying “If there is a more depressing blot on Waterford’s skylines than the hulk of the derelict Grand Hotel in Tramore, then I do not know of it”.
“Since it passed out of the Treacy family’s ownership in 2014, the recent history of this once proud establishment has been one of unrelenting decrepitude and dereliction,” Senator Conway said at the time.
“Its sad state is not just an aesthetic calamity for the town and county, but has also hamstrung the town’s economic viability and its potential to attract more high-spending visitors to the coastal area of east Waterford. Conservative estimates would indicate that the loss of the hotel for the last decade or so has denied the town some €35m of spend – and every passing year of closure is an annual loss of about €3m.”
On 25 May, last, a planning application to Waterford Council was made in the name of Magna Capital Investments Ltd., seeking to transform the old hotel into a modern, 3,812 square metre apart-hotel facility.
This application is in pre-validation stage and if validated, the council is expected to make a decision by 19 July, next.
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
