The Blackstone Group has announced the purchase of The Burlington Hotel, which is widely recognized as the largest hotel in Dublin. The 501-guestroom property was sold for US$86 million.
The sum of the deal is much below the price paid by the previous owner of the hotel, Bernard McNamara, a property developer from Ireland. In 2007 he bought The Burlington from JDH for tremendous US$373 million. Later the hotel was transferred to the Bank of Scotland that appointed Grant Thornton as a receiver. At that time the guide price of the 4-star hotel was US$97 million. Even though this time the sale price is several times less than 5 years ago, according to The Guardian, the hotel is profitable and in 2011 the property yielded the net profit of US$6-7 million.
Blackstone has already revealed its plans concerning the newly purchased hotel. The company will invest another US$20 million into the renovation of the property. After this the hotel will be rebranded and will operate under Double Tree by Hilton brand. This will make the hotel the first Double Tree hotel in Ireland.
It is also revealed that renovation works will concern mostly the hotel’s lobby and its Pure nightclub. The Burlington also has two restaurants named The Diplomat and The Sussez, which serve modern Irish cuisine, two bars (Mespil and Bellini’s), and a large meeting and banqueting space of 3,182 sq. m.