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THE FORMER ULSTER Bank building on Dublin’s O’Connell Street could become a new restaurant and retail unit if redevelopment plans are approved by the city’s council.
A planning application to change the use of the building, located on the east side of the street near O’Connell Bridge, was submitted to Dublin City Council last week.
Kingstonway Limited applied to the local authority to build a restaurant in the basement of the building and a retail unit at ground level, with offices at the first floor level set to be retained for that use.
The proposal would include the subdivision of the building with individual access points to each of the different spaces from O’Connell Street, and would also involve some modifications to the interior of the protected structure.
A report by developers Brock McClure submitted as part of the application says that this would “respect and protect the architectural and historic character of the building”, while also facilitating its viable and long-term reuse.
It also claims the company behind the redevelopment carried out research to identify demand for the building’s use, and that an “international sitdown restaurant operator” and an “international retail operator” have both shown interest in the premises.
The former bank at 2-4 Lower O’Connell Street was listed for sale with a guide price of €2.75 million last year, and was sold following Ulster Bank’s withdrawal from the Irish market in 2023.
The building had operated from 4 Lower O’Connell Street as a bank since 1923, when it was reconstructed after its destruction during the 1916 Rising, with number 2 being acquired in the 1960s.
Records show that the company behind the redevelopment, Kingstonway Limited, was only incorporated last year and that its directors Stephen McCarthy and Thomas Kelly are both separately involved in dozens of other businesses.
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