The Clarion Hotel Cork, Ireland, put on sale for €30 mln (IE)

JLL and Savills have been appointed to offer for sale the prestigious Clarion Hotel Cork, Ireland, an outstanding 4-star hotel investment guiding in excess of €30 mln. This offer represents the largest hotel to ever be sold in Cork.
Designed by Scott Tallon Walker, the hotel opened in 2005 and has an enviable waterfront position within the City Quarter development on Lapps Quay – the heart of the Central Business District in Ireland’s second largest city. Cork, as the commercial centre for Ireland’s southern region with a population of 199,000, enjoys strong corporate and multinational presence including Amazon, Apple, EMC2, GlaxoSmithKline, Intel, Pepsi and Siemens. Cork is a leading tourist destination and is a gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way, a tourism trail on the west coast of Ireland.
The Clarion Hotel houses a signature glass atrium and extensive service offering including 191 fully air-conditioned, modern guestrooms offering private balconies and unrivalled views over Cork city.
Offered for sale subject to existing occupational leases with Merzolt Limited (approximately 25 years remaining), and operated by Choice Hotels Ireland under the 4-star Clarion brand, the hotel represents a rare opportunity to acquire a modern and very high quality leased hotel investment. The hotel has extensive conference and leisure facilities and is probably the finest hotel in Cork’s CBD. At €30 mln, the current annual rent of €2.4 mln represents a significant net initial yield of 7.66%.
Dan O’Connor, Vice President, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group commented: “The Clarion Hotel Cork is the largest and arguably the best hotel in Cork City. It offers a strong existing leased income stream with bright prospects for future rental growth buoyed by a robust Cork hotel trading market and positive developments within Cork City, including the announcement that Cork’s first Convention Centre will be constructed nearby”.
Tom Barrett, Head of Hotels & Leisure, Savills commented: “Cork hotels are very busy with high occupancy rates and RevPAR growing for the last 5 years. The Clarion represents a great opportunity to acquire the leading hotel in Cork, a market in which twelve hotels have transacted in this cycle of the property market.”
The Cork hotel market has now recorded five consecutive years of RevPAR growth (up 11% in 2014 according to STR Global), with the Cork market now outperforming comparable UK cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Glasgow.
Source: JLL