Kilkenny city hotel with permission for 66-room extension guiding at €4.8m

Hotel investors and operators looking for a foothold in the Kilkenny market will be interested in the sale of a three-star venue in the city.

The Kilkenny Inn has a prime location next to the landmark St Canice’s Cathedral and is being offered to the market by joint agents JLL and Cushman & Wakefield at a guide price of €4.8 million.

Built in 2005, the hotel currently comprises 30 guest bedrooms, all of which have undergone what the selling agents describe as “a light refurbishment” over recent years. The hotel’s Kernel Bar & Restaurant is spread over two floors, with two bars serving residents and the public. It also includes a separate breakfast room and a meeting space within the Tower Suite. There are currently 25 car spaces available to the rear of the property.

In 2021, the hotel was granted full planning permission for a 66-bedroom four-storey extension and ground floor cafe. The development of this would increase the overall key count to 96 keys, and see the construction of a new entrance on to the main route into the city and over the St Francis bridge.

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The hotel is situated on Kilkenny’s famous “Medieval Mile”. and is just a short stroll from the city’s popular nightlife scene, the Smithwick’s Experience and Kilkenny Castle, the latter of which attracts more than 800,000 visitors annually.

With approximately 1,250 hotel rooms available in the city and only 500 of those on offer within the Medieval Mile, the selling agents cite Fáilte Ireland’s view that the city is undersupplied in terms of stock as a key selling point for the Kilkenny Inn.

Isobel Horan, divisional director at Cushman & Wakefield, says: “It is rare that a profitable hotel of this nature comes to the open market with the benefit of full planning permission for a 66-bedroom extension. Once constructed, the Kilkenny Inn will be one of the larger hotels within Kilkenny city, a location that has been undersupplied of hotel bedrooms in recent years.”

Jack Fox of JLL adds: “This is an exciting opportunity to acquire a significant existing and profitable hotel located next to St Canice’s Cathedral and beside the Nore river walk, which connects to the famous Kilkenny Castle.

“Kilkenny city is a tightly held and coveted market, with the last hotel to sell there in 2017. Furthermore, the strategic Abbey Quarter development is underway next door, with the first 50,000sq ft grade A office building nearing completion and already pre-let. This transformational development, on the former Smithwick’s Brewery lands, will further drive demand at the hotel.”