Dublin’s largest hotel, The Burlington, has been sold to the world’s largest hotel company Blackstone for €67 million.
The US venture capitalists completed a deal for the Burlington late last week after Bank of Scotland (Ireland) took control of the Dublin 4 hotel from developer Bernard McNamara, who paid €288 million for the building in 2007.
While the sale to Blackstone was just a fifth of the price paid for it five years ago, it is the biggest figure paid for a hotel since the collapse in property prices.
Commenting on the sale, Irish Hotels Federation president Tim Fenn described it as good news for the hotel sector.
Blackstone, which owns the Hilton brand amongst others, now plan to spend €16 million in refurbishing the 500-bed hotel.
The Irish Independent has reported that the hotel could be marketed as a DoubleTree Hotel.
The sale was negotiated by CBRE Hotels’ Paul Collins on behalf of Grant Thornton receiver Paul McCann.
Blackstone’s Ken Caplan said the acquisition “demonstrates our strong confidence in Ireland’s economic recovery.”
