HSE acquires Blarney Hotel for €3m

The HSE has moved to take advantage of the challenge the Covid-19 pandemic has presented to the tourism sector by buying a well-known Cork hotel for use as a public residential care facility for older people.

The hotel, developed in 2004 as part of a €25 million golf resort, is understood to have been acquired by the HSE on behalf of Cork Kerry Community Healthcare for about €3 million. While the price paid represents a fraction of the hotel’s original build cost, it is understood the HSE will need to invest a significant sum to convert the property into a Hiqa-compliant facility.

The former hotel, eight miles from Cork city centre in the town of Blarney, comprises 61 guest bedrooms, of which 25 are suites. All bedrooms have full air conditioning with facilities including plasma TVs, broadband internet access, raised seating areas and balconies with views overlooking the hotel grounds.

Golf course

It sits within a wider 170-acre site in Shournagh Valley, and was developed originally along with a leisure and gym complex, 56 holiday homes, and a golf course designed by two-time major winner John Daly. The hotel and the leisure and gym complex closed in January 2020 while the golf course has continued to operate intermittently, in line with Covid-19 restrictions.

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The sale of the hotel was handled jointly by John Hughes of CBRE’s hotel division and Donal Culloty of Coyne Culloty Killarney.

While neither agent was prepared to comment on the price paid for the property, John Hughes said the transaction highlighted the “increasing demand for hotel properties for alternative use and a trend to conversion to healthcare use.”

Donal Culloty said: “Given the high cost of construction in addition to the lengthy time factor to build a facility of this size, this sale presented an excellent opportunity to acquire a modern hotel which had been developed in 2004 as part of the Blarney Resort at a total cost of €25 million.”