The year-long saga of Dublin’s Gresham Hotel has come to an end as Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency agreed to sell the property for €92 million to Spanish firm RIU Hotels and Resorts, which outbid local Goldman Sachs offshoot Tifco for the hotel.
The sale reportedly provided just under €60 million in profit for the agency. The Gresham's board is expected to approve the takeover early this week.
NAMA declined to comment about the sale but Dublin Town CEO Richard Guiney told the Independent that the deal was a "vote of confidence for the north side of the city.”
The Gresham may face some competition if plans to renovate the space once inhabited by the historic Clerys department store (one block away from the Gresham on O'Connell Street) are approved. The Victorian-era building is expected to undergo a €150-million renovation that will preserve the structure and create new retail and office space, as well as a new 176-room hotel.