THE NEW owners of the long vacant hotel at Grand Canal Square in the Dublin docklands, due to open for business next February, are pulling in top rents for the first batch of apartments in the complex released onto the market.

Six of the 84 luxurious pads have been let to corporate clients at €2,000 per month – a hefty increase on the going rate in the south docklands. A short distance away in Liam Carroll’s iconic Gasometer building, Google staff are paying an average of €1,300 per month.

However, letting agent Owen Reilly says apartments in the Grand Canal development have an average floor area of 110sq m (1,184 sq ft) – about 25 per cent more than those in the circular Alliance building – and a better fit-out.

“These are undoubtedly the best apartments in Dublin with a concierge service, 24-hour security and direct access to the restaurant, bar and leisure centre.”

There will be an extra charge for membership of the gym and swimming pool, and a fee of €150 a month for use of the underground car park. With so much optimism for the new project, it is all the more surprising that more than a year after the launch, Lisney is still trying to find buyers for two remaining “affordable” apartments which form part of the same scheme.

Cathy Moran of Lisney says she can only accept offers from first-time buyers earning less than €58,000 per annum. A one-bed apartment with a floor area of 49sq m (527 sq ft) on the sixth floor is available at €120,000, while a three-bed (85sq m/914sq ft) on the second floor is €190,000.

Meanwhile, the new owners of the four-star hotel plan to announce its name today when the new management company, the US-based Interstate Hotels Resorts, is introduced.

The 169-bedroom hotel and 84 apartments were acquired last January for about €30 million by Midwest, a Swiss-based group with Israeli investors, and Brehon Capital Partners.

The new owners will spend about €10 million fitting out the hotel which was built by Terry Devey who, like many other Irish developers, is now based abroad.