The War Memorial Building in Belfast which will be turned into a designer hotel by Donegal man Seamus Sweeney.
A Donegal man is behind plans to turn a landmark Belfast building into a stunning designer hotel.
Seamus Sweeney and partner Andre Graham plan to convert the city centre’s War Memorial Building.
The couple, who formerly owned Belfast gay venues including The Kremlin, Union Street and Shoe Factory, bought the landmark site for £1million.
Mr Sweeney is originally from Tullygay, Conwal outside Letterkenny while Mr Graham is from New Zealand.
The pair have extensive property interests in Ireland and also in Scotland.
They confirmed they finalising their contract with the sellers after a bidding war which attracted around nine bids from an original asking price of £850,000.
The building had been bought by Frank Boyd’s Killultagh Estates in 2007 for around £7m.
The War Memorial Building has been on the market since June through agents CBRE.
The building at 10 Waring Street in the city centre was formerly the Queen Anne Hotel, but it was blown up during the Belfast Blitz in 1941.
It was reopened as the War Memorial Building by the Queen Mother in 1963 and has been used for office accommodation in the last few years. Part of it still houses the museum of the Royal Ulster Rifles.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Graham said the new venue would not be aimed specifically at the gay community but that all would be welcome.
He added: “We have plenty of great design ideas for the hotel but everything is subject to planning, and we are currently in a lot of planning meetings.”
The men sold the Kremlin to tenant Anthology NI last year. Its asking price was £3m.
Their hotel will be the third in a tight radius in the Cathedral Quarter, close to the five-star luxury Merchant Hotel and the budget Premier Inn. At least one other is also planned for the quarter.
Mr Graham said his hotel would not be seeking any star rating and would remain independent rather than joining a hotel franchise or brand. And he said he did not believe the area would eventually be over-served with hotels. “We do want to open a designer hotel which will be unique as the building itself,” he said.
“It’s one of only two listed buildings in Belfast dating back to the 1950s. People tell us they don’t like the look of it but we are extremely pleased with it.”
He said he intended to announce full plans for the hotel before Christmas. “A lot of our plans do rely on planning [permission] and I wouldn’t want to pre-empt those meetings.”
The War Memorial plans mark the latest in a range of new hotels planned for the Cathedral Quarter and city centre. Paddy and Edmund Simpson, owners of Benedict’s Hotel on Bradbury Place, are planning to open a 40-bedroom hotel in a former warehouse on Donegall Street.
