Plan for country’s first ‘capsule room’ hotel

Date Published: 13-Jan-2011

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

Plans to create the country’s first Japanese-style ‘capsule room’ hotel at the Fairgreen have been lodged with Galway City Council, in a desperate bid by the owners to secure tenants.

Part of the massive vacant ‘Castlehope’ development – which is owned by former Anglo Irish Bank director Tom Browne and John Hughes, the Head of Business Banking in AIB, Eyre Square – is set to be transformed into student and tourist accommodation consisting of 54 ‘capsule rooms’.

The development would require a ‘change of use’ permission, as it is already designated for retail and office use.

The ground floor will be transformed to include 25 accommodation ‘pods’, with a further 29 at mezzanine level.

The unique hostel plans – which will be similar to the Yotel rooms at Heathrow and Gatwick airports – come after continued failed attempts to attract a high-end retailer to the building, which is adjacent to the WebWorks development.

The rooms are slightly larger than those in capsule hotels, but smaller than traditional hotel rooms. They feature either a convertible bed or two bunk beds, a pull-out work desk and sliding door into an ensuite bathroom.

The developer and former owner of the site, Bernard McNamara, had failed to attract a tenant for the sizeable building.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.