John and Francis Brennan's Park Hotel in Kenmare sold to Irish businessman Bryan Meehan
Brothers John and Francis Brennan at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Picture: Domnick Walsh
The Park Hotel in Kenmare, owned by hospitality gurus the Brennan brothers, has been sold for an undisclosed sum to Irish businessman and social entrepreneur Bryan Meehan.
Mr Meehan previously worked with Ali Hewson, wife of U2 frontman Bono, in setting up natural skincare beauty line Nude. It was subsequently acquired by the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy).
Developer Paddy McKillen was also linked with Nude Skincare.
The Hewsons are long-time associates of Mr Meehan. They were among the investors in his hip Californian coffee chain, Blue Bottle Coffee, which he sold in a $500m (€420m) deal with Swiss food giant Nestle a few years ago. Mr Meehan invested in the coffee chain company in 2012 and as CEO led dramatic growth across California and into Japan.
He had previously founded the high-end Fresh & Wild chain of organic supermarkets in London, which was later sold to Whole Foods.
It is not clear at this stage if the Hewsons have any involvement in the Park Hotel deal.
Mr Meehan shares their commitment to social investment, and was a backer of the $2bn Rise social impact investment fund, which Bono helped found in 2017. He has previously professed his admiration for Bono and for former US presidential candidate Al Gore, for having founded investment funds that aim to help solve the world's biggest social and environmental problems.
The sale of the Park Hotel to Mr Meehan comes after the Irish Examiner recently revealed that John and Francis Brennan had entered an exclusive period with a buyer they were happy with.
Both The Park and the Lansdowne, another Kenmare town centre hotel that the brothers own, came on the market last May with a combined price guide of 20.5m via agents CBRE. The individual guide price for the 5-star hotel was €17m, while the 4-star Lansdowne had a separate guide of €3.5m.
It is not clear if the Lansdowne is part of the deal with Mr Meehan.
Both hotels attracted inquiries from the US, other international operators, Irish and local parties.
The Park is in a sumptuous setting, overlooking Kenmare Bay and rooms are furnished with antiques and objects d’art. The cocktail bar is second to none and boasts one of the largest whiskey collections in Europe.
The 28-bed Lansdowne is on Main Street, Kenmare, and is one of the town’s oldest buildings, dating to 1790, when it was built as the town residence of William Petty Fitzmaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne.
The Brennans bought it in January 2021 and it achieved Fáilte Ireland 4-star status in 2022.
The 46-bed Park was bought out of receivership in the 1980s, managed by Francis Brennan, when it was associated with a Dutch speculator Ernst Weeland who bought it for £147,000 after CIE put the one-time Great Southern Railway (GSR) hotel up for sale in 1977.
The two historic Ring of Kerry hotels, dating to the late 18th century in the case of the Lansdowne, and the late 19th century in the case of The Park, are hugely popular with visitors to the picturesque Kerry town.
