Call to 'hurry up' apartment conversion of old Portlaoise hotel
A call to "hurry up" the conversion of an old Portlaoise hotel into social housing has been made this month.
The former County Hotel on Main Street was bought by Laois County Council to convert it into social housing apartments.
However the front of the building is listed, and there is limited rear access, so the project continuesto be stalled.
A latest update from the council was given at the January council meeting.
They say that it is a project by Clúid Housing and will give eight one bedroom apartments and two two bedroom apartments.
A Bat Survey is completed and there were no bats found.
"Propping up works complete to enable the completion of further investigation site which will inform Stage 2 CAS application and planning".
Cllr Willie Aird wants faster action.
"Can we try and hurry up the county hotel? It's in the middle of Portlaoise," he said.
The building which now has a mural by Ciaran Dunleavy based on the legend of Fionn growing up in Ballyfin, was once the go-to destination for dances where many a romance led to marriages.
It shut down nearly 30 years ago. Fire gutted it several times since, most recently in 2015 with the roof having to be smashed in by fire crews to douse the flames.
The boys of St Mary's CBS gave the building a facelist afterwards with a Portlaoise GAA mural.
Laois County Council went on to buy the building from an unidentified owner in 2018 after long negotation that included their considering a compulsory purchase order.
Their aim was two pronged, to end dereliction and provide town centre social housing apartments, partnering with Clúid, but it has hit multiple obstacles since as the building continued to deteriorate.
The council requested a removal of the County Hotel from the Protected Structures list, so that they can demolish it and get the apartments built. No plans have yet been displayed for how that block will be designed.
The council has had to invest public money into protecting the public from falling debris, firstly with a scaffolded walkway, and when that brought complaints from a neighbouring trader, it was replaced by a protective structure along the roof edge.