Plans to sell County Mayo hotel where Land League was founded have been shelved
The council's Director of Services for Planning, Catherine McConnell, told county councillors that a party who had sought to purchase the 44-bedroom hotel have decided not to proceed with the sale. No reasons were given for this decision.
The local authority formally agreed to sell the hotel to private developers last December. It had been expected that the €700,000 sale would proceed and that the property, and potentially the adjoining Glenpark building, would reopen to the public as a hotel.
Phase 1 of the proposed development would have seen the refurbishment of the hotel building as a 22-bedroom commercial hotel. The second phase would have involved works on the Glenpark building, which currently houses the motor tax office, to create an extra 22-bedroom accommodation block.
Funding had been allocated to redevelop the Imperial Hotel as an innovation hub under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund in 2021.
Mayo County Council subsequently made two expressions of interest requests for parties interested in purchasing the hotel.
Ms McConnell said she did not believe that a third request 'would be any more successful and would further prolong the time period for the redevelopment of the property'.
The Imperial Hotel, which was the founding location for the Land League in 1879 was later purchased by Mayo County Council in 2011 for €800,000 but has since fallen into a dereliction. The building is currently suffering from water dilapidation and a partially collapsed roof.
Some local representatives requested that URDF funding be used to turn the building into civic offices. Council officials repeatedly said that URDF funding could not be used by local authorities to refurbish buildings for their own use.
Ms McConnell proposed that the local authority 'immediately revert to the original proposal as approved under the URDF Project for Castlebar'.
'The Castlebar MD [Municipal District] team will now prioritise work needed to procure the sub-consultants to progress the preparation of the necessary drawings and documents which will form the basis of the tender package for the project,' Ms McConnell wrote.
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Cllr Donna Sheridan, Cathaoirleach of Castlebar Municipal District (Fine Gael) said it was 'extremely disappointing' that the plans to sell the hotel to private developers had fallen through and called for adequate staffing levels to advance the original proposal.
Councillors from the Castlebar Municipal District Area had threatened a motion of no confidence in Kevin Kelly, Mayo County Council's Chief Executive, over the level of staff in their municipal district area. This motion was postponed in light of the passing of Mr Kelly's mother, who was laid to rest earlier this week.
'It would have been brilliant to have a hotel in the Mall, it's gone out to expressions of interest twice and unfortunately this hasn't worked to now we need staff to progress the URDF,' Cllr Sheridan told the Irish Independent.
Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne, who opposed the sale of the property in 2011, said it was 'appalling' that the building had been left empty for so long since the council purchased it.
Cllr Kilcoyne said there should be a room in the facility, when redeveloped, dedicated to Michael Davitt.
'Mayo County Council has dragged and dragged its feet on this, just like everything else in the county. It doesn't surprise me at all,' Cllr Kilcoyne told the Irish Independent.
Cllr Cyril Burke (Fine Gael) who was in favour of reopening the Imperial Hotel as a commercial Hotel, said he was 'very disappointed' that the sale had fallen through but did not support the council seeking another expression of interest from private purchasers.
Cllr Burke said 'the ideal situation' would have been develop a hotel at the property given the shortage of hotel accommodation in Castlebar.
"If those people couldn't progress it as a hotel I don't know if there is any point in investigating the matter any further. We are so long waiting now we need something to happen,' Cllr Burke told the Irish Independent.
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