Limerick hotel sold for €25m

Hotels: The Irish-American businessman and philanthropist Mr Chuck Feeney has sold The Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick for around €25 million. Jack Fagan, Property Editor, reports

Agent DTZ Sherry FitzGerald had been quoting a guide price of €17 million for the four-star hotel which stands on 6.1 hectares (15.2 acres) along the main Limerick-Dublin road beside the University of Limerick.

It is the last Irish property owned by Mr Feeney, 72, whose other commercial interests once included the Kilternan Golf and Country Club and Heritage House, a modern office block with a Georgian entrance on St Stephen's Green.

He is now involved in the Atlantic Philanthropes, a world wide grant giving organisation with assets of $3.5 billion (€2.895 bn).

Although the Limerick hotel has 107 bedrooms and suites, it is believed to have reported a profit last year of only €130,000.

The room occupancy rate averaged no more than 51 per cent, largely because of the intense price competition in the city since the opening of a number of new hotels, including the Clarion and the Radisson.

The Castletroy Park has a dedicated conference centre and banqueting facilities for 450 guests and a separate leisure centre with a 20-metre swimming pool.

The hotel and grounds were bought by a property company headed by an accountant, Mr Michael Daly.

It is currently developing a mixed apartment and office scheme at Riverpoint on the former Munchin's House site in the city. The company is also involved in the redevelopment of The Savoy Centre.

Although about three acres of the 15 acres at the front of the Castletroy Hotel is zoned for residential use, it it considered likely that city planners would allow it to be rezoned if new owners decided to use the site for a new shopping centre.