Magniers’ five-star Cashel Palace Hotel lodges plans for valet-parking facility amid expansion
The Cashel Palace Hotel has lodged new plans with Tipperary County Council to create a 40-space valet parking facility to support their planned expansion.
The hotel, owned by Susan Magnier, wife of billionaire businessman John Magnier, recently announced plans for a major expansion, adding 29 new guest rooms in a new extension on a section of the Buckley Car Park — which the hotel bought from Tipperary County Council earlier this year.
Now, Trevester Unlimited Company, the Magnier family firm primarily used to own the Cashel Palace, has lodged plans to use 40 parking spaces at Cashel Town Shopping Centre for private valet parking.
According to planning files submitted with this application, while new parking will be provided as part of the hotel’s expansion, it will not be enough.
“The proposed development is intended to meet the shortfall in parking space provision and provide a parking solution to support the operation of Cashel Palace Hotel, including the additional parking demand arising from the proposed Phase 2 hotel extension,” read the application.
The company is only seeking to use parking spaces that already exist, with no new spaces or entrance arrangements being proposed in the plans.
Under the plans, vehicles from the hotel will be taken to the shopping centre car park by hotel staff, “ensuring that the spaces are used in a controlled manner”, the agent said.
A survey undertaken by consultants for the hotel shows a significant amount of under-utilised spaces in the shopping centre car park, even during peak periods. According to the files, the centre has 164 spare parking spaces at peak times, with 159 spaces left over when an allowance is made for full occupation of the shopping centre. Currently, there is one unit of the centre that is not occupied.
“Given its proximity to the Cashel Palace Hotel, the substantial number of existing parking spaces available and its established vehicular access arrangements, Cashel Town Shopping Centre is considered well suited to accommodate the proposed valet parking operation,” the application read.
It added that the valet parking operation would generate a “limited number of additional vehicle movements” throughout the day, and “would not be concentrated during the traditional AM and PM peak traffic periods”.
Tipperary County Council planners are due to make a decision on the application by October 22.