The five star Four Seasons hotel on Simmonscourt Road in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin, a favourite haunt of developers and speculators during the height of the property boom, was put on the market at the end of last year with the sale being handled by property consultancy CB Richard Ellis. It is thought that CBRE initially targetted investment funds in Europe and the US as well as overseas proprietors of luxury hotels since, because of the depth of the domestic banking crisis and economic downturn, it was considered unlikely an Irish buyer would come forward.
Although no guide price was quoted initially for the 197 bedroom hotel, last year the Irish Times reported market sources as suggesting that the owners would be happy to sell the property for around €30 million. Even if the hotel were to achieve this price it would fall well short of the €50 million loan advanced by Anglo Irish Bank to Nollaig Partnership, the 18-strong syndicate that developed the hotel over ten years ago. Although the hotel is reported to have posted losses of around €2 million in 2009, trading has apparently picked up in the interim in line with various recent international studies of the hotel industry which show that room occupancy rates in Dublin are showing their best improvement in two years. Combined with this general improvement in the Dublin hotel sector the Four Seasons also implemented a €2 million cost-cutting plan last year.
Nevertheless, the hotel has an onerous contract with its landlord, the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), under the terms of which it is reported that the annual rent bill is some €700,000 and a five star hotel must be operated there. This represents a significant fixed cost for any potential purchaser and, given the current general gloomy financial climate, the Sunday Times recently reported that the price may now be somewhere between €15 million and €20 million. It is reported that CBRE received two bids for the hotel and that London & Regional Proprties Group owned by British property investors Ian and Richard Livingstone is the favourite to succeed in the purchase.