The Jurys Doyle hotel group is selling the Jurys Tara Hotel in Booterstown, Dublin, for €14.2 million in cash. It is to open a new hotel in Southampton.
Jurys Tara is a well-known landmark on the Rock Road and is being bought by Woodmead Ltd, a company owned by Mr Bernard McNamara and Mr Jerry O'Reilly.
The two men also own the Galway Radisson and Kilkenny Ormonde hotels.
Jurys Doyle said the Jurys Tara Hotel continued to perform well within its market but that the 113 bedroom, three-star full-service hotel did not fit into its strategic plan.
It decided to accept the offer from Woodmead which, it said, was above the current carrying value of the hotel in the company's books.
Agreement has been reached with Northern Ireland property developer McAleer & Rushe for the construction and lease of a new three-star, 257 bedroom hotel which it is planned will open in early 2005.
The new Jurys Inn will be located at Charlotte Place, in the centre of Southampton.
The new hotel will be the focal point of a mixed-use scheme being developed by McAleer & Rushe and will include 80,000 sq ft of offices and apartments. The Southampton hotel will involve an investment of 27 million and Jurys Doyle has agreed to enter into a 35-year operating lease.
Jurys Doyle is currently planning to open new Jurys Inns in Glasgow, Chelsea, Leeds, Dublin and Heathrow Airport. When the Southampton hotel opens, it will bring to 18 the total number of Jurys Inns operating in the Republic and the UK.
