Cork's 'Grande Dame' set for €25m sale
The Imperial Hotel in Cork has hosted illustrious guests from Daniel O'Connell to Frederick Douglass, and Michael Collins to Princess Grace of Monaco. File picture: Denis Minihane
Behind-the-scenes talks are at an advanced stage for the sale of Cork city’s oldest hotel, the ‘Grande Dame’ Imperial Hotel on South Mall, for as much as €25m, with its purchase linked to veteran Dublin hotel and bar owner Louis Fitzgerald.
Hospitality and property market sources say discussions have been ongoing between the hotel’s owners, the Flynn family, who bought the 200-year-old Imperial in 1998, and significantly upgraded it, and Louis Fitzgerald.
The second-generation Fitzgerald family group, headed by Tipperary-born Louis Fitzgerald, owns up to 20 bars and hotels, primarily in Dublin.
He also owns The Quays in Galway, and two Dublin hotels, the Arlington Hotel on Bachelors Quay, bought for a reported €30m in 2005, and the purpose-built Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, next to Joel's restaurant on the Naas Road.
The Imperial was bought by the Flynn family back in 1998 for around €6.4m, from Hanover International, and it subsequently got a multimillion-euro upgrade, with penthouse suites and a spa added.
In a central position on the South Mall, the Imperial has a 200-year hospitality history and has over 100 bedrooms, bars, restaurants, function rooms, and business suites.
Last year, it added a Michael Collins suite with historic, period-appropriate decor and a portrait of ‘The Big Fellow’ hanging in the foyer.
By coincidence, its now-suitor Louis Fitzgerald is also a history buff and a paid-up Michael Collins fan: He paid €60,000 in 2021 for a Michael Collins silver topped walking stick and put it on display in An Poitín Stil bar in Dublin among a raft of other memorabilia there.
Property sources say Mr Fitzgerald had previously expressed interest in Cork bars/property around Oliver Plunkett St and Maylor St, but this may be his first purchase in the city.
In Dublin, he owns classic bars including Kehoes, the Stag’s Head, Bruxelles, The Gin Palace, Grand Central Café, and The Quays in Temple Bar, having started in the business at age 21 after a move to Dublin from Tipperary in 1962.
Also Irish family-owned, the Flynn Group started in Waterford in 1960. The family bought The Old Ground in Ennis in 1995, the Imperial Hotel in Cork City in 1998, and the Newpark in Kilkenny in 2008, and it also owns The Park Hotel in Dungarvan.
Sources say the Flynn family had recently looked at further bedroom additions or converting space from its function rooms, but may now have decided to sell to Louis FitzGerald, with sale sums as high as €25m or even €30m mooted.
The Imperial has been joined by several new city hotels including on the South Mall (The Maldron) and further ones are on the way at Morrison's Island.
However, observers note that its status as ‘Grande Dame’ is unlikely to be altered by a change in ownership, with Louis Fitzgerald’s instinct to leave what works well, well enough alone.
