MORE THAN six years after he paid €400 million to acquire the Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels in Ballsbridge from the former Jurys Doyle chain, Carlow developer Seán Dunne has lost control of them to the consortium of banks that had funded his audacious property play at the height of the boom.
The syndicate of lenders – led by Ulster Bank – yesterday appointed Dalata Hotel Group, which is run by former Jurys Doyle chief executive Pat McCann, to manage the Ballsbridge hotels for an initial one-year term.
There are also 16 apartments on the seven-acre site, which are all let.
The transfer came after lengthy negotiations between Mr Dunne and the banks recently over an exit strategy for the developer. It is understood the lenders were preparing to go to the High Court next week to gain control of the hotels but Mr Dunne finally agreed to step aside yesterday.
He is now preparing to concentrate on his business activities in the United States.
Ironically, it was Mr McCann who negotiated the sale of the hotels to Mr Dunne in 2005. He ran the hotels for 18 years in total during his time with Jurys Doyle, which is now branded as the Doyle Collection.
Mr Dunne told a Sunday newspaper last weekend that the National Asset Management Agency was seeking judgment of €184 million against him and that he had given personal guarantees of €409 million to lenders relating to his developments during the property bubble.
Mr Dunne bought Jurys hotel for €275 million and paid €125 million for the Berkeley Court, which was then a five-star hotel.
Mr Dunne had planned to build a Knightsbridge-style high-rise mixed development, with a 37- storey tower as the centrepiece of a €1.5 billion development. This plan was rejected in January 2009 by An Bord Pleanála and the hotels were reopened under the D4 brand.
The properties have operated in recent years as budget hotels, offering rooms for as little as €37 a night. Mr Dunne also opened a convenience store on the former Jurys site under the D4 brand. This caused consternation among other hoteliers in the area.
This is all set to change under Dalata’s direction. It is understood the hotels will be rebranded – probably as the Berkeley Court and the Ballsbridge hotel – and moved into the four-star category. Room rates are expected to increase.
It is also expected that funding will be made available to renovate some of the bedrooms. The ground-floor operations at the former Jurys hotel have already received a €4 million makeover following flooding damage caused by the heavy rainstorm in Dublin in October.
The hotels are expected to trade for some years while the banks decide how best to develop them and get as much of their money back as possible.
Dalata is the biggest hotel group in the State, controlling about 4,000 bedrooms in 23 hotels. It is best known for its three-star Maldron franchise, which has 11 properties, and also operates another 12 hotels under management contracts for a variety of lenders and creditors.
These include Jim Mansfield’s former Citywest Hotel in Saggart and Finnstown House in west Dublin, Breaffy House in Co Mayo, Whites in Wexford and the Clayton in Galway.