Cantillon: Tara deal another timely check-in for Dalata

The Tara Towers hotel near Booterstown, which has been bought by Dalata for more than €13 million, is renowned as one of the ugliest hotels in Dublin. Beauty comes in many guises, however, and Pat McCann's listed group will see this as an ideal addition for the rapidly expanding group.

Dalata revels in snapping up unfashionable city properties and sweating them to make a tidy profit. It will invest a further €4.5 million in the 111-bedroom property to turn it into a four-star hotel.

The Tara Towers, as anybody who has stayed there recently will know, has seen better days and will surely need every penny of the investment to bring it back up to scratch.

In pre-crash years gone by, when developers ruled the country and prime sites in south Dublin fetched prices that would make even Croesus weep, a site such as the one on which sits the Tara Towers would have been bought for redevelopment. The hotel is already relatively high rise by Dublin standards, so obtaining the necessary high density to turn a decent buck wouldn’t have been a problem from a planning point of view.

The hotel is located very close to leafy Ballsbridge, but with a sea view. It is far enough from the city centre to feel away from the bustle, but close enough to be within easy reach. A cute developer with a bit of vision might have flattened it to build a landmark, large five-star property.

Instead, the existing grey monolith gets a reprieve for a few years, although with the way hotel asset prices are going, it would be a shock if it is not redeveloped at some stage.

Meanwhile, Dalata now has well more than 3,000 hotel rooms in Dublin, between owned, leased and managed properties.

As the industry continues to feel the strain from the chronic lack of room supply in the capital, McCann’s big bet on a resurgence of the Dublin market looks like it should pay off handsomely, as asset prices are set to soar.