Four expressions of interest made in historic Castlebar hotel

FOUR expressions of interests have been put forward for The Imperial Hotel in Castlebar.

This comes on foot of a motion passed by Castlebar Municipal District Council to seek expressions of interest for the property to be developed as a boutique hotel. 

The vote was carried by five votes to two following lengthy debate at the council's monthly meeting in May. Cllrs Michael Kilcoyne and Blackie Gavin both voted against the proposal, citing the hotel's historical significance. 

The hotel closed its doors in 2009 and is noted for being the founding location of The Land League. 

Mayo County Council purchased the property for €800,000 in 2011, but the property has since fallen into a derelict state. 

Talks were previously held between the county council and one party interest in purchasing the hotel. 

However, for reasons which county council officials have not publicly disclosed, the sale did not materialise.

The hotel also became the beneficiary of €8.53 million from the government's Urban Regeneration Development Fund (URDF) to repurpose the building as an innovation hub. 

Cllr Cyril Burke has welcomed the expression of interest in the property and said that some of the aforementioned funding could possibly be reallocated to other projects in Castlebar's town centre. 

The Castlebar Military Barracks received over €2.5 million as part of the same tranche of URDF in 2021. 

"The hotel has been falling into disrepair for more than ten years now and it's about time we did something about it," said Cllr Burke

"I accept the fact that there is department funding earmarked for the regeneration of the town centre but this depends on a number of organisations coming together to engage in this regeneration and signing up to leasing and co-funding their sections. In my view this could be a long protracted process.

"I am not saying either that it should be discarded as the Chief Executive [of Mayo County Council] has assured me that this process is still running in-tandem to exploring the expression of interest initiative and it is also a possibility that the funds earmarked for the Imperial may be switched to fund other potential projects within the core town centre which could be a win-win situation."

Cllr Burke also said it was important that the connection to Michael Davitt and The Land League would be retained in some way as part of the redevelopment of the hotel.

"We will soon have an opportunity to see what proposals may be out there waiting to breath new life into this building which is pivotal to regenerating of our core town centre and maybe those members will have a change of heart if the right proposal comes along."