A landmark four-star hotel at the entrance to the tourist town of Youghal in east Cork could fetch more than €2.5 million through CBRE.
The Walter Raleigh Hotel, which takes its name from the town's most famous resident, is being sold on the instructions of Nick Ryan, who has refurbished this 40-bedroom facility in an 18th-century Georgian building over the past few years to boutique standard.
Many of the en-suite bedrooms have views overlooking the sea, while the Walter restaurant and bar is a standout feature. There is also a ground-floor ballroom which can cater for up to 300 guests and the Blackwater restaurant at first-floor level.
There are modern and fully equipped kitchens along with extensive car-parking to the rear.
The hotel is located at the western entrance to Youghal on the N25 which gives easy access to Cork city (50km away) and Waterford (40km away).
Youghal has a population of 8,000 which greatly swells during the summer months with an influx of tourists who come for the walled town and nearby beaches.
The hotel was acquired in 2005 for almost €2.5 million by US politician Richard Voke. The Boston-based Democrat, whose ancestors came from Cork, provided a personal guarantee for some of the money AIB lent to fund the purchase.
During the crash, when tourism outside of the capital took a hammering, the hotel went bust and Voke returned to the US. The hotel was subsequently sold for a fraction of what Voke had paid for it. AIB filed a suit in the US against Voke in 2015 demanding repayment.
Walter Raleigh also had a hotel named after him in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, where he led several expeditions from Ireland to colonise the area in the 1500s.
