HotelsAfter paying around €140m for three Great Southern hotels in Galway and Killarney a month ago, Gerry Barrett may be planning to sell them on to local hoteliers
Galway businessman Gerry Barrett is planning to sell on the Killarney Great Southern Hotel only a month after buying it, along with the Galway Great Southern Hotel and the Corrib Great Southern.
Mr Barrett, who paid around €40 million for Killarney's 152-year-old hotel, is apparently in negotiations with a number of local hoteliers about the proposed sale.
Some of them are thought to have been under-bidders for the four-star property which stands on a site of 12.4 acres.
At least half of that acreage is likely to be used for a residential development.
Mr Barrett is understood to have paid around €100 million for the two Galway hotels.
While the Corrib hotel has been one of the poorest performing in the group, it stands on a site of seven acres, part of which is likely to be used for an apartment scheme.
The Eyre Square hotel was substantially refurbished in recent years and is trading well. It is interlinked with the railway station, where CIÉ has about 14 acres which it plans to develop over the coming years.
Mr Barrett also owns the five-star G Hotel in Galway and the D Hotel in Drogheda. He also plans to open hotels in Dublin and London.
Meanwhile, Great Southern's Rosslare hotel, which failed to sell at the tender stage, is expected to be bought by an existing hotel group when a new tender process closes tomorrow. It is likely to make between €4 million and €6 million.
