Mansfield buys hotel for €50m

Developer Jim Mansfield's Citywest group has bought a Co Dublin hotel for an estimated €50 million. Citywest announced yesterday that it has bought Finnstown Countryhouse Hotel in Lucan, Co Dublin, and the property's surrounding 45 acres from the Hickey family.

The group did not reveal the purchase price, but market sources valued the property at somewhere between €40 million and €50 million.

Citywest's immediate plans are to refit the hotel and its facilities, including its health club and 18-hole putting course. The company also intends adding a spa.

Its recently appointed managing director, former Football Association of Ireland chief Bernard O'Byrne, said the group planned to develop it as a boutique hotel. Staff numbers would be maintained at the property.

Finnstown is close to Adamstown, Maplewood Developments' large-scale residential development in Lucan, where it is expected that 10,000 homes will be built over the next decade in an area designated by local authority South Dublin County Council.

Citywest has no plans for residential development in Finnstown, and is instead focused on developing the hotel itself. There is a ruined castle on the grounds that the group is also hoping to restore.