The Radisson Red hotel opened recently on the outskirts of Galway city as one part of a major 12.5 acre residential and commercial development at Crown Square by the Rhatigan Group
describes the Radisson Red, his stylish and edgy new four-star hotel in a fledgling development called Crown Square on the edge of
Did the 64-year-old have to be persuaded about the concept? “Not really. I liked the idea of it being about efficiency and smartness. If you and I were meeting 10 years ago we’d both have ties on us. Things change.” Some wrinkles in the service of food and drink are still to be ironed out as the hotel continues to find its feet and the young team, led by general manager Aidan Donohue, adjust to the challenge of rising occupancy levels.
“I’m glad to say I was proven wrong. We had 800 to 900 people come along on one day alone. They were mostly gainfully employed but a lot of them were looking for an opportunity to come back to Ireland or to Galway. And then there were young graduates. It bucks the trend when you consider all the talk about how hard it is to get people.Radisson Red is just one element of the 12.5-acre Crown Square campus that Rhatigan is developing and which will take shape over the next three to five years.
The first thing I had to do was stabilise a small rural business. The 1980s were tough. There were seven or eight years of slog and just keeping the doors openIs it a case of just two will do, or would Rhatigan like to add more hotels to his portfolio?The “engine” of the Rhatigan group remains JJ Rhatigan, one of the country’s biggest and most successful building contractors. It was founded in the 1950s by John Joseph Rhatigan in Tuam, north Galway.
“The first thing I had to do was stabilise a small rural business. The 1980s were tough. There were seven or eight years of slog and just keeping the doors open.”“In 1990 I won the contract to build the Chapel of Reconciliation in Knock, which was our first €1 million-plus building contract.” “A lot of it is from our Irish connections, people we have worked for here. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to go to Manchester, which would be grand, but it would be grand to go to Holland too, or somewhere else. Even with Brexit, London is still an attractive city for capital.”
The Crown Square site was in development under different owners before the 2008 property and financial crash, with JJ Rhatigan as a contractor. The company took a “financial hit” on its work there and the site later came under the control of Nama.
Jj-Rhatigan Nama Land-Development-Agency
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