Princely sum sought for Ard Rí

The former landmark Ard Rí hotel and grounds in Waterford city, bought for a reported €15m in 2006 for a proposed €400m mixed use development, has been put on the market for €750,000.

The complex, dating to the late 1960s and run for years as a Jurys Hotel, was bought as a development play by a consortium headed up by Cork businessman Tom Coughlan who also bought Cork City FC in 2008 before it too was hit by financial woes during his stewardship.

The six-storey hotel, on a height and on 20 acres overlooking the Suir from the Kilkenny-Waterford border, was bought by the consortium from Donegal hotelier Brian McEniff who had acquired it in the 1990s.