Sea change at the Strand

A TOP and profitable Limerick city hotel comes for sale this week guiding €17 million, less than half of its development cost, estimated to have been c €40 million.

With 184 beds, the Shannonside Strand Hotel which was built on the site of the former Jurys Hotel is one of the country’s most profitable and highly regarded city hotels outside of the capital, with strong business sector trade.

Similar to the River Lee Hotel in Cork which sold last year for €25m, the Stand Hotel was joined by several hundred apartments within a few minutes’ walk of all of the city’s amenities, offices and shopping streets, as well as major sports amenities such Thomond Park (26,000 seats) and Páirc na nGael (50,000 seats).

Joint selling agents Savills and CBRE describe Limerick Strand Hotel as “one of Ireland’s busiest and most profitable, modern hotels outside of Dublin city centre,” rated on a par with Cork’s city centre River Lee and Clarion Hotels, and Galway’s city’s Radisson.

The four-star hotel was built just seven years ago and the development was associated with the Lalco Group, and has views over the Shannon from its eighth and ninth stories. It has a number of bars and restaurants; over a dozen meeting rooms, with seven at roof level; conference and banqueting facilities for up to 600, and a leisure club with up to 900 members with a 20-m pool. Critically, there’s basement parking for 200 cars.

The Energise Health Club has spa with five treatment rooms, gym, pool and hydrotherapy pool, sauna, jacuzzi, plunge pool and aerobics studio.

It can be bought free of management agreements and with vacant possession. and agents CBRE and Savills note that apart from corporate trade, and regular sporting events which throng the city for rugby, hurling and now football matches, the €660m Limerick tunnel has freed up cross-river traffic and put Shannon airport and Shannon Fee Zone within a 25-minute spin of either side of the city.

Hotel trading conditions have continued to improve since a turnaround in 2013 and Limerick recorded the highest RevPar growth in Ireland for the eight months to August 2014, up 12% on 2013 figures, showing and incoming tide of business for the Strand.

Details: Savills, 01-6181300; CBRE, 01-6185500