THE FAMOUS GIBSON Hotel in Dublin’s docklands has been put up for sale with a guide price of more than €87 million.
The building is being marketed by property group Savills on the instructions of joint receivers Paul McCann and Stephen Tennant of Grant Thornton, who control the property.
Named after the famous Gibson guitar brand, the Gibson is a 4-star hotel comprising 252 bedrooms, including 20 suites. It has a restaurant, two bars, spa facilities and a gym.
The hotel also has conference and banquet facilities capable of accommodating up to 300 people, with nine rooms spread over two floors, and an 800-space basement car park.
The property is fully let to Galsay Limited, a subsidiary of Ireland’s biggest indigenous hotel group, Dalata, under a 25-year lease that started in June 2010.
The rent is €4.65 million and the tenant is subject to five-yearly, upward-only rent reviews.
Savills director of investments Fergus O’Farrell said that the Gibson “offers investors the opportunity to acquire a rare hotel investment of scale with long-term secure income in a prime location”.
He said that the sale is likely to attract interest from a “wide spectrum” of investors looking to benefit “from the continued performance of the Irish economy, in particular the Irish hotel and tourism industry”.
The hotel is located in Dublin’s docklands, opposite the 3 Arena, which Savills said “was a strong influence for the musical theme of the hotel during its design and construction phase”.
Harry Crosbie
Both the 3 Arena and the Gibson Hotel were built by Harry Crosbie, one of the most prominent developers in Ireland during the Celtic Tiger.
Crosbie led building on some of Ireland’s best-known venues, such as the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and Vicar Street.
As previously examined by Fora, Crosbie then became more ambitious and looked to get a major project close to his heart, the Point Village, off the ground.
The development at the mouth of the Liffey was intended to be a “city within a city” that would feature a huge shopping centre with dozens of shops.
Parts of the project, most notably the Gibson, were completed before the crash. However, some, such as the Point Village shopping centre, were left in a state of near-completion.
Crosbie’s loans were later transferred into Nama and in 2013 the state “bad-bank” appointed receivers to many of Crosbie’s developments, including the Gibson.
Development near the Point Village is now picking up.
Planning permission for what will be Dublin’s tallest office building was recently granted nearby, while Michael O’Flynn recently received permission to build a student accommodation complex that will include 7,000 beds.
Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie
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