Having abandoned a plan last year to pursue the development of a new hotel in partnership with the Royal Irish Automobile Club (RIAC), Irish property investment group Tetrarch Capital has instructed agent CBRE to find a buyer for the Dawson Hotel. The property at 35/36 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, is being offered to the market at a guide price of €17.5 million.
Located directly across from the Mansion House on what is widely regarded as one of Dublin city centre’s foremost streets, the subject property briefly comprises 36 bedrooms (currently closed) along with extensive food and beverage outlets at ground-floor level. Prior to its closure, the Dawson Hotel had been home to the famed La Stampa restaurant and Sam’s late-night bar.
Alexandra Sheeran, who is handling the sale on behalf of CBRE, says: “The sale of the Dawson Hotel offers an exclusive and high-profile property on one of Dublin’s trendiest and most vibrant streets. The asset is unbranded, providing operational flexibility for parties. There is also scope to almost double the existing room count, subject to securing planning permission.”
While the Dawson Hotel offers potential by itself for expansion and for the delivery of a high-end boutique offering in an area of proven demand, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, it had been poised for a major redevelopment along with the neighbouring premises of RIAC.
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The plan, first revealed in late 2017, involved the redevelopment of the buildings at 33-36 Dawson Street and several properties to the rear. Had it gone ahead, it would have delivered a significant upgrade to facilities at the RIAC club at 33-34 Dawson Street, including a new members’ restaurant, bar, reading room, meeting rooms, offices for the RIAC and Motorsport Ireland, a new location for the Club’s Guinness Seagrave Library, and a 61-space car park.
It would also have allowed Tetrarch, via an entity called Miro Hotel 2 Ltd, to develop a new 117-bedroom hotel on the site. The hotel was to have been operated by Tetrarch with the RIAC brand in its name.
Two planning applications were lodged for the development, with permission for the scheme received by Miro from Dublin City Council in March 2020.
While the development budget had been set at €26.5 million, excluding VAT, prior to the arrival of Covid-19, inflation costs and delays due to the pandemic had pushed the bill up by 51 per cent to more than €40 million by the beginning of 2022. The plan was shelved last February.
Outside of its ownership of the Dawson Hotel, Tetrarch’s investment portfolio includes the Citywest Hotel in Saggart, the Mount Juliet estate in Kilkenny, and Howth Castle in north Dublin.
