Mayo town can't move forward until historic building is restored

by Dr. Richard Martin

The Imperial Hotel in Castlebar can only be one of two things.

A building in private ownership or a building in public ownership. Currently, it is in public ownership.

Mayo County Council bought the Imperial Hotel building post-crash in 2011.

It is the jewel in the crown of the town of Castlebar and it is lying in an appalling state of dereliction and decay.

The Irish National Land League was founded by Davitt in the Imperial Hotel in 1879.

The Western Care Association held its first meeting in 1966 in one of the rooms upstairs. Twenty people were expected to turn up - 130 actually turned up.

To see the building in its current state hurts and has hurt the psyche of the town.

It's almost as if mentally we are still caught up in the post-crash era and until this impasse is resolved we will always remain in a psychic state of paralysis and limbo.

We can't move forward as a town until this building is restored to its former glory. It's not possible.

The old Convent of Mercy building was razed to the ground overnight.

Over 20 years ago I remember walking through the Mall on a balmy, sunny spring Sunday morning and lorry after lorry were lifting the beautiful stone away. Destination unknown. Once it's gone it can't come back.

My grand-aunts were educated and fed by the nuns in that building. The Ireland of the 1930s was a different place. Those women were born into poverty and hardship.

My grand-aunt became a midwife. She worked in Harlow in Essex for the most of her life. The last time she came home she asked about the convent. She was told it was knocked. Disappeared. Finito.

She was visibly upset and disgusted. She never came back to Castlebar again. The town she knew and loved was gone.

As a town we seem to have insane desire to destroy our heritage. All that's left of the convent are some terracotta tiles covered in weeds. It's shameful really.

The majority of the people of the town would love to see the Imperial Hotel restored to its former glory as a boutique hotel but can it be done?

Is it feasible? If an investor was to buy the building and renovate it into a boutique hotel, how much would it cost?

Bear in mind that the building has fallen into utter decay and would have to be ripped apart to a concrete shell before any work could proceed.

I spoke with a friend of mine who is a prominent building contractor. He felt a sum of €20 million would be needed to complete the job.

I was very sceptical when I heard that, but given his standing in the construction business I had to take him seriously.

Other people have mentioned various sums like €10 million. But can't the county council do a feasibility analysis themselves?

Surely, with all their teams of engineers and planners, they could do a cost-benefit analysis of the building.

Is it cheaper to convert it into a municipal building or a hotel? Which is viable? The future of the Imperial Hotel is and has been a major debate point across the town for years now. It ultimately comes back to cost.

Why does it matter? It matters because investors don't care about Land Leagues, Michael Davitt, listed buildings, etc. Investors care about one thing and one thing only. Profit. That's what capitalism is all about. The business of the business is the business.

There are only two rules in investing:

1. Don't lose money.

2. Don't forget rule number one.

Is it worthwhile for an investor to purchase the building and restore it to its former glory? One can go to the Harvard Business School, Yale or Princeton but successful investing will always come back to what accountants call 'discounting to net present values'.

What does that mean? Discounting to net present values?

It’s quite simple really. If I defer consumption and lay out money to invest in a stock or a property or a farm or a financial derivatives, there are only two big questions.

How much am I going to get back? And when am I going to get it?

For example, if I invest a sum of €1 million in an asset today and I then sell the asset next week for a profit of €100,000, that's a worthwhile profitable investment.

However, if I was to invest the same sum in another asset and I had to wait 50 years to recoup the same profit, which is the better investment? Time counts.

If it would take a colossal sum of money to revamp the derelict Imperial into a boutique hotel, when would the investor see a return for her or his money?

If a loan of €10 million was spent upgrading the Imperial, basic arithmetic would suggest that who ever operated the Imperial would have to repay €500,000 a year for 20 years to cover the loan. That's not including interest on the loan.

Could a hotel on that site ever be that profitable? I'm not convinced. Does the Motor Tax Office need to be sold also? To make a hotel feasible and profitable?

I've walked into the car park behind the Motor Tax Office when it was empty and when it was full. The car park will only hold 17 cars at max capacity.

Not having a huge car park may not be a death knell to the idea of the Imperial Hotel reopening its doors. After all the Castlecourt and Clew Bay Hotel in nearby Westport are located on the streets of the town with little or no parking.

My feeling is that if the building can't be renovated for less than €5 or 6 million, it would be virtually impossible for a hotelier to turn a profit in the short, medium and long term.

If that is the case, then the building should remain in public ownership.

There is a sum of €11 million which is waiting to be spent on projects within the core of the town. This impasse isn't the fault of the politicians much and all as the public like to criticise them.

The executive in Mayo County Council need to look at themselves. They also need to open the window of their offices in Mayo County Council and look out across the Mall at the state of the Imperial Hotel, which is in a state of rack and ruin. Where is the urgency? Why can't they make a decision?

Isn't their a section within the council devoted to dereliction?

Something needs to happen and happen soon. The patience of the people of Castlebar is wearing thin.

(Dr. Richard Martin is a regular columnist with The Connaught Telegraph).