A bid by the Galgorm hospitality group to transform a Belfast church into a luxury boutique hotel could be at an end, after planning permission for the £8 million project expired in recent days.
The plans for the Holy Rosary Church on the Upper Ormeau Road involved turning the listed building and an adjacent Parochial House into an 18-bed hotel and restaurant, known as ‘The Raven’.
After a protracted planning process and objections from residents, Belfast City Council’s planning department issued an approval notice on November 21 2019.
The five-year limit placed on the planning permission expired on Thursday.
Acquired in 2017, the site of the former Catholic church was part of the Galgorm Collection’s efforts to expand its Fratelli Italian restaurant brand in Belfast.
While the surrounding area has undergone significant development in recent years, including the site of the former Ballynafeigh PSNI station, the Holy Rosary site has remained empty since it was last used by parishioners in 1980.
Built in 1896 and dedicated two years later, Holy Rosary Church was developed to serve the growing Catholic population in south Belfast.
But it became too small for the expanding congregation in the parish and eventually closed in 1980.
The Galgorm Collection’s proposal for the site involved demolishing a two-storey section at the back of the old parochial house and replacing it with a new three-storey extension.
The application attracted dozens of objections, largely centred on concerns around traffic and parking in the busy arterial route.
Residents looked to have successfully challenged a bid by the Galgorm Collection in 2022 to amend the planning conditions to extend the restaurant opening hours from 11pm to 1am.
But the hospitality group was successful in overturning the decision at the Planning Appeals Commission in November 2023.
Part of the ruling reaffirmed that the development must begin before November 21 2024.
While it has remained tight-lipped over its plans for the Ormeau Road site, the Galgorm Collection has successfully removed further planning conditions in three separate applications lodged earlier this year.
In a letter to Belfast City Council as part of an application to retain a boundary fence around the church for another year, planning agents Clyde Shanks said once the conditions were discharged, work would begin.
However, that does not appear to have happened.
The attention of the Galgorm Collection in recent months has turned firmly to golf, with the group paying £28m to buy the Roe Park Resort in Limavady and Galgorm Castle Estate in Ballymena.
The group said it will invest £22m in both golf estates.
It’s understood the Galgorm Collection is also negotiating with around 30 landowners in Glenariffe in an effort to develop a brand new championship links golf course on the Antrim coast.
