AMBITIOUS plans have been drawn up to build a 280-bedroom hotel in the shadow of Titanic Belfast.
Hospitality specialists the JMK Group, which has been investing in luxury boutique hotels in Ireland since 2013, believes the hotel in Hamilton Dock can be up and running by summer 2021.
And it says the facility would enhance the Titanic Quarter’s status as a world class tourist destination (Titanic Belfast has attracted more than five million visitors from 145 countries since it opened in 2012).
For the family-owned JMK Group, headed by dynamic entrepreneur John Kajani, it will be its first investment in Northern Ireland.
One hundred family rooms have been included within the proposed new hotel to meet growing demand from visitors to family-focused attractions in the vicinity including Titanic Belfast, W5, the SSE Arena, WeAreVeritgo, SS Nomadic and HMS Caroline.
No brand for the hotel has yet been been designated by JMK, but it currently works in collaboration with the likes of Hampton by Hilton, Aloft, Seraphine and Holiday Inn.
A public information event for the proposed Hamilton Dock hotel - designed by award winning Belfast architects RMI Architects - is due to be held on Thursday May 9.
A spokesman for JMK Group said: “This project, set in the heart of one of Europe’s largest waterfront developments, is about making a strategic investment in Belfast’s tourism sector, meeting the increasing demand from families who see Belfast and Titanic Quarter as a family friendly destination.
“Titanic Belfast is among the leading tourist destinations in the world so we are confident that tourism will continue to be an engine of economic growth for Belfast and that is why we are investing in that future, tailoring our offer to the needs of the city.
“We bring a wealth of experience in the tourism and hospitality sector to Belfast, already having a presence in Dublin and Waterford as well as experience in the London hotel market.”
Brian Kelly, a director at the project’s planning consultants Turley, added: “We're delighted that a leading UK hotel developer like JMK has chosen Titanic Quarter as its first location in Northern Ireland.
“This significant investment will support the area’s successful evolution into a world-class tourism destination, an international exhibition and conferencing location and a hub of local, national and international business and education.”
JMK Group's Dublin projects include the redevelopment of Findlater House on O’Connell Street into a 198-room Holiday Inn Express, which opened in 2016, a 421-bedroom hotel under construction near Dublin Airport, and the Waterford Marina Hotel.
If given the green light, the Hamilton Dock facility will further enhance Belfast's burgeoning hotels stock (in 2018 alone 10 new hotels were completed, adding more than 1,200 new rooms).
But operators believe demand is there (more than five million overnight trips were made to Northern Ireland last year and the associated spend was in the region of £1 billion).
