McKeever Group completes first phase of Letterkenny project

Eugene McKeever, managing director and his wife, Catherine (centre) cut the red tape at the refurbsihed hotel, along with the Mayor of Letterkenny, Michael McBride; group operations director, Eddie McKeever; president, Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, Gerard Grant; chief executive, Toni Forrester; town centre manager, Dessie Larkin; town team member, Amanda McNamee and McKeever Group marketing manager, Bridgene McKeever.

The first phase of a major €1m renovation project on one of Letterkenny’s most central hotels has been completed this week.

The Letterkenny Court Hotel has been relaunched with a new name – Dillon’s Hotel – by its owners the McKeever Hotel Group, who purchased the property and began extensive improvement work in May.

Six months later and the hotel now features a completely refurbished restaurant seating 80 people along with a new meeting and banqueting suite seating up to 70 guests.

A new public bar area has been created with a grill area serving food all day and seating 120 people.

Outside there’s a new marble frontage and signage and as customers enter, they’ll see a new reception area and a lobby which leads to the coffee bar.

All 30 of the existing staff have stayed on and another 25 jobs have been created including a new senior manager post. Andrew Walker, who formerly managed a four-star luxury hotel in Redcastle, has been appointed as hotel manager.

The McKeever Hotel Group also owns Corr’s Corner Hotel just outside Belfast, the Dunsilly Hotel in Antrim and the Adair Arms Hotel in Ballymena.

The company has grown extensively in recent years and this is its first hotel in the Republic of Ireland.

“Letterkenny was the perfect location to expand the McKeever Hotel Group into the Irish Republic. Not only do we have lots of family in the area, but it is a vibrant and progressive town with lots of investment and developments currently going on.  We are delighted to be here,” said managing director, Eugene McKeever.

The name Dillon’s was chosen to reflect the heritage of the Main Street location. “This site used to be a family-run supermarket called Dillon’s and everyone in the area came to it. We thought it was important to reflect the history of this location, which was always a central hub to this bustling town,” he added.

The next phase of the project will begin in early 2015 with a further €500,000 investment in the 58 bedrooms before progressing to the 26 apartments. It is hoped work will be completed by Easter.

“Since coming to Letterkenny and the commencement of this project everyone in the town has been very welcoming and we have definitely felt great support from the town,” added Eugene.  “We have been met with great positivity and we look forward to returning the warm welcome to the townspeople on their first visit to Dillon’s Hotel. “