Burlington on sale for quarter of boom’s €288m price tag
The hotel was bought from the Doyle family, along with an adjoining site for a further €100m, by developer Bernard McNamara at the height of the boom.
While Mr McNamara’s debts now amount to about €2bn, and include a number of hotels and a share of the costly Glass Bottle site, the 501-bed Burlington Hotel has continued under receivership/management to trade successfully.
The Burlington was sold by the Doyle family at the same time they sold their Dublin 4 Jurys and Berkeley Court Ballsbridge hotels to Sean Dunne for about €375m.
Built in 1972 by the legendary hotelier PV Doyle, the “Burlo” is the city’s largest and busiest hotel/banqueting venue, with two bars, two restaurants, and a nightclub.
There’s a strong hotel business to be built on by new operators/investors, say agents CBRE, acting for receivers Grant Thornton and Lloyds/Bank of Scotland.
While it had a €1.2m investment in 2008, it is going to be brought up a few more notches again to regain a premier niche in Dublin’s strong hotel market.
CBRE’s Paul Collins said the sale “should appeal to many international hotel investors and the opportunity to acquire Ireland’s most successful and best-known hotel is undoubtedly going to generate strong worldwide interest”.
