A round-up of other commercial property news in brief

Smithfield hotel makes €8.5m

IN THE first sale of a Dublin hotel for more than two years, Chief O’Neill’s Hotel at Smithfield, Dublin 7, has changed hands at around €8.5 million – 50 per cent less than it made when it was sold in 2006. It was bought by an overseas cash buyer.

The 73-bedroom, three-star hotel stands on the site of the old Jameson distillery and has been closed for the past year. It was bought four years ago by the businessman Laurence Byrne for around €17.5 million. Byrne is well known in horse racing circles and is the owner of the dual champion hurdle winner Hardy Eustace.

Paul Collins of CB Richard Ellis, who handled the private treaty sale, said that despite the economic slowdown there was still a market for “sensibly priced hotels”.

€231m scheme for Omagh

PLANS FOR a £200 million (€231.5 million) retail and leisure development in Omagh town centre have gone on display in the council chamber.

Corbo Properties has lodged outline plans for the scheme on two sites, totalling 16 acres, and spanning both sides of the Mountjoy Road. The plans provide for a major food store, as well as a shopping mall extending to 74,320sq m (800,000sq ft), and incorporating retail and restaurants, a seven-screen cinema complex and a bowling alley. There will be 1,400 car-parking spaces on site.

€1.5m for Donegal hotel

IN CO DONEGAL, joint selling agents Lisney and Franklins are quoting a “highly competitive” price of €1.5 million for Carrigart Hotel in the village of Carrigart on Rosguill Peninsula.

The three-star, 38-bedroom hotel stands on a site of 2.4 acres and has been owned by the Walsh family for the past 60 years. There is full planning permission for 29 holiday homes in the grounds.

Carrigart, a Victorian village that originally formed part of the estates of the Earls of Leitrim, has become a popular holiday resort over the years. It is close to the Rosapenna Hotel and golf resort.