Investors back Fitzpatrick's new US hotel

A group of Irish investors is joining forces with Fitzpatrick US Hotels to bankroll a new €125 million property in New York.

Fitzpatrick yesterday announced plans for a 250-bedroom hotel on 29th Street and 6th Avenue at the west side of Manhattan.

The hotel will be the centrepiece of a $500 million (€417 million) commercial and residential complex being built by JD Carlisle Development Corporation in the city.

The new Fitzpatrick hotel will cost around $150 million, just over €125 million, and will open in 2009.

A group of Irish investors put together by Cathal McGinley of KMS Commercial will buy the hotel.

None of the backers were named yesterday.

Mr McGinley signalled that the collaboration between KMS and Fitzpatrick would continue.

"We are embarking on an expansion programme of the Fitzpatrick Hotel chain in the United States over the next five years and this new hotel is the first acquisition in this process," he said.

"We are also looking at opportunities in Washington, Boston and another location in New York."

He added that the new hotel would be biggest Fitzpatrick in the US to date.

KMS is also acting as property adviser on a $63 million condominium development in the Chicago Fitzpatrick Hotel that is being sold to Irish investors as a pension-backed investment scheme.

The company said yesterday that it had already sold over half the 204 units. They have been selling for around $245,000 each.

In recent months it has handled two other projects in New York, a 152-apartment development at Rockerfella Plaza and a 478 unit property on West 42nd Street.

The new Fitzpatrick will be the fifth branded property managed by the group in New York. Commenting on the development yesterday, chief executive of the US group, John Fitzpatrick, said the west side of Manhattan was a good location.

"I am thrilled to be involved with such a prestigious development," he said.

The Fitzpatrick US Hotel Group is connected to the Irish business of the same name, but they are separate entities.