Glenlo worth €4m – though land valued at €60m during boom

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

The landmark five-star Glenlo Abbey Hotel in Galway – where its sprawling lands were once valued at up to €60 million at the height of the property boom – is now worth just €4m.

Property sources in the city have said the hotel – which was placed in receivership a fortnight ago on foot of bank debts – would only be likely to achieve in the region of €4m.

The hotel is set on around 140 acres of land – some of which the former owners, the Bourke family – hoped would be purchased for the Galway City Outer Bypass and pay off their €8m in debts.

“It’s only a few years ago that the lands alone were valued at up to €60m. The hotel now would go for around €4m, maybe just over that,” one local property expert told the Sentinel.

The owners had pinned their hopes on their land being bought under Compulsory Purchase Order for the Outer Bypass, which has been shelved until a decision is sent down from the European Court of Justice.

The hotel continues to operate, being managed by professional hotel management company, Tifco. The Bourke family from Salthill, who bought Glenlo and built it up to the hugely popular luxury hotel over 30 years, will continue to have an involvement in the running of the hotel.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel