Capital hotel offering

A PRIME sited and profitable Dublin city hotel developed by city bar and hotel owners the Dwyer brothers is up for sale, expected to find an overseas buyer, for as much as €35m.

The 195-bed Trinity Capital hotel, which includes the old red-brick Dublin City fire station on Pearse Street, is understood to have made an operating profit of between €2.5m and €3m last year, as the capital’shotels continue to trade — and to sell — strongly.

It comes up for sale via agent Paul Collins of CBRE Hotels, who says Dublin’s hotels have had 30 straight month of positive performance based on the ‘Rev/par’ standard industry measurement, and this is a performance monitored by international and investor buyers who are actively eyeing Dublin hotels.

The Trinity Capital also has scope and full planning to add 52 beds (though in a building not in the hotel’s ownership, so a lease may be necessary) and there are further undeveloped sections in the landmark 1800s old fire station.

Opposite Trinity College and near the Aviva Stadium, Grafton Street and Grand Canal, with the Convention Centre across the Liffey, the hotel was built in stages from 2000, with 82 beds initially. It has 4,500 sq ft available for retail at ground level, basement accommodation in the fire station portion, and unused capital allowances.

It’s being offered for sale by Nama as, despite its profitable trading, the developers Liam and Des O’Dwyer had considerable debts of over €100m transferred to Nama. Bars they previously operated included The George and Cafe En Seine.

While Cork City’s River Lee Hotel recently found Irish buyers associated with the Doyle/Jurys group in a c €25m transaction via Savills, CBRE Hotels expect international buyers to be to the fore in the acquisition of Trinity Capital, given sales totalling over €110m for the Marker Hotel, Burlington and Morrison Hotel in the past year, to buyers based in places as diverse as Russia, the US and Switzerland.

According to CBRE Hotels, several major Dublin city hotels are expected to come up for sale this year with viable futures: notable hotel sales outside of Dublin have included Parknasilla and Kenmare’s Sheen Falls, Cork International Airport Hotel and the River Lee Hotel in Cork, with several in Co Clare, while other trophy hotels like Ashford Castle in Mayo are being marketed worldwide, in this instance at €25m by Savills.

According to CBRE’s Paul Collins “Dublin hotels have been amongst the best performing cities in Europe in the past two years. The sale of the Trinity Capital Hotel offers an outstanding opportunity to acquire a prime asset in a key international capital city. With such a turnaround in Dublin’s trading fortunes, the hotel market is well into recovery mode and the Trinity Capital Hotel is poised to capture this over the next number of years.”

Offered by private treaty, and as an unbranded hotel, the Trinity Capital has a €30 to €35m guide.

Details: CBRE Hotels, 01-6185500