The former Park Inn Hotel in Belfast city centre is set to reopen next year after being snapped up by a major Irish hotel group.
The MHL Hotel Collection, which owns the Powerscourt Hotel in Wicklow and Dublin’s five star College Green and interContinental hotels, has announced a contract to purchase the 145-bedroom premises on Clarence Street West, next to Invest NI’s headquarters.
The group has announced a £7 million refurbishment programme for the venue, which looks set to become a Moxy by Marriott hotel.
It will bring MHL’s hotel portfolio on the island to 14 and represents its first in the north.
It comes just a few months after Irish hotel group iNua made its entry into the Northern Ireland market by acquiring the former Radisson Blu Hotel in the city’s Gasworks.
The Park Inn by Radisson closed to the public during 2021.
It’s understood the hotel has been contracted since then to house asylum seekers.
The MHL Collection said it has already signed a contract for the former Park Inn hotel with May Street Capital, with the acquisition expected to be complete before the end of 2024.
It plans to reopen the venue in the first half of 2025.
It will be the fourth hotel owned and operated by the MHL Hotel Collection under a franchise agreement from Marriott International and will become the second Moxy-brand hotel within the group.
Moxy had previously been linked with a proposed 164-bed hotel in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.
Planning permission for the venture in the former Nambarrie Tea building was granted in 2022, but little progress has been made on the project.
Commenting on the deal, Paul Higgins, partner at MHL Hotel Collection, said: “We are very pleased and excited to have signed contracts to acquire our first hotel in Belfast.
“The major £7m refurbishment will transform the hotel. We have seen how much guests love our fun and contemporary Moxy Dublin City Hotel, and we look forward to bringing the Moxy brand to the heart of Belfast.
“We also look forward to engaging with local businesses and organisations in the region so we are best placed to support the local economy and hospitality sector, not least by creating up to 60 full and part time roles”.
Donall McCann of May Street Capital added: “We are delighted to have signed contracts with MHL Hotel Collection and we look forward to welcoming them and Moxy to Clarence West Belfast.”
