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Patrick McKillen (born 1955) is an international hotelier, property investor and businessman. [1] [2]
McKillen was born in Andersonstown, West Belfast. His father owned a garage in the same suburb. At the age of 16, he joined and built up the company, which became one of the first garage chains in Northern Ireland, sold in the 1990s for €25 million ($31 million). [3]
During the 1980s, McKillen built up a portfolio of assets including commercial buildings, retail stores and shopping centres in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Limerick. He was the main shareholder of the Jervis Shopping Centre (which was a hospital that he turned into a shopping mall [4] ), and a key investor in Clarendon Properties. [5]
In the 1990s, he turned his attention to building an international property business. He focused on buying properties with significant unrealized potential in key locations, improving them and managing and holding the assets for the long-term. His portfolio gathered hotels, retail and commercial properties in Europe, the US, Asia and South America.
Led by Irish investor Derek Quinlan, McKillen invested in the Savoy Hotel Group in 2004. [6] Shortly afterwards Quinlan sold the Savoy Hotel [7] and changed the name to the Maybourne Hotel Group which then included Claridges, The Connaught and The Berkeley.
In 2015, the Qatari royal family (through Constellation Hotels, subsidiary of Qatar Holding) bought the Maybourne group for an undisclosed amount believed to be around £1.4 billion. [8]
McKillen launched his first major legal action to stop NAMA when it attempted to seize his estimated €3 billion of debt owed to Irish banks during Ireland's banking crisis. In February 2011 he won a landmark Supreme Court Case in Ireland and blocked NAMA from acquiring McKillen's debt . McKillen lined up Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Joseph Stigliz as an expert witness in the case which was unusually heard before all seven Irish Supreme Court judges. Professor Stiglitz erroneously stated that McKillen's international portfolio of prime property assets was run to pension fund standards and that his profitable loans were exactly what the Irish economy needed to recover and stimulate growth and jobs, and that it would be detrimental to Mr McKillen's businesses and the Irish economy to transfer them to NAMA. The Irish Attorney General argued McKillen was unable to repay or refinance his loans [9] and his debt qualified for NAMA.
The seven Irish Supreme Court judges unanimously ruled in McKillen's favour essentially because the decision to acquire the loans was made before NAMA had been formally established. They also found that McKillen has a right to be heard before acquisition of his loans. His Irish Supreme Court case Dellway vs NAMA is recognised as a landmark legal decision and is used internationally as an example of how Governments cannot override citizens’ rights during national emergencies. [10] The Supreme Court ruled NAMA could now, given it was established, acquire McKillen's loans however as all Irish Banks had by then been nationalised NAMA decided not to acquire McKillen's remaining €1.5 billion of debt which had not already been transferred to NAMA. [11]
The British Barclay Brothers became the largest shareholders of the Maybourne Hotel group in 2011 with a direct & indirect holding of 64%. In 2012 McKillen sued the Barclay Brothers and NAMA in his attempt to gain control of Maybourne; spending over £27 million in legal fees on one of the largest commercial legal actions taken in London's High Court. McKillen was defeated in court [12] [13] and was found liable for £27m in legal fees. [14] Following this loss, in 2015, both McKillen and the Barclay Brothers both sold their entire shareholding in the hotels to Qatar's Constellation Hotels. [15]
After selling his shareholding McKillen continued to run the hotels for a £5 million annual fee. He managed a redevelopment of Claridges and the expansion of hotel group to include Maybourne Riviera in France and Maybourne Beverly Hills. In April 2022, the Qataris removed McKillen from the board of Maybourne Hotels. [16] [17] [18] [19]
Paddy McKillen owns and has been developing Chateau La Coste, a biodynamic vineyard and international destination for art, architecture and natural beauty in Provence, for the past 15 years. [20] It was named by Newsweek as one of the Top 100 Destinations to ‘Visit in the World’. In 2017 McKillen opened a luxury hotel, Villa La Coste, on the 600-acre estate.
McKillen is continuing to expand his global business. In April 2022, he opened the nine-bed Shinmonzen [21] , A Tadao Ando designed Japanese Inn which he developed in Gion, Kyoto. [22]
McKillen’s wife is named Maura. They have four children together and live in Los Angeles and France. [4]
Together with his son, Paddy McKillen Jr, McKillen was a large shareholder [23] of the insolvent Press Up Entertainment which was taken over by its largest lender Cheyne Capital. [24] [25]
Tadao Ando is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize.
Sir David Rowat Barclay and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay, commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom Frederick Barclay is now the sole survivor. They were identical twins and, until David's death in 2021, had joint business interests primarily in media, retail and property.
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first hotel in Britain to introduce electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as chef de cuisine; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners.
Clerys was a long-established department store on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland, a focal point of the street. The business dates from 1853, however the current building dates from 1922, the original having been completely destroyed in the 1916 Easter Rising. Clerys completed a five-year restoration programme in 2004 at a cost of €24 million but went into receivership in 2012, and was sold. Under American ownership, it abruptly closed in 2015, and issues arose with staff and franchise holders over an extended period afterwards.
Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. Claridge's Hotel is owned and managed by Maybourne Hotel Group.
Maybourne is a Qatari-owned British luxury hotel operator, which owns and manages The Berkeley, Claridge's,The Connaught and The Emory in London, The Maybourne Beverly Hills in Los Angeles and The Maybourne Riviera in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
The Connaught is a five-star luxury hotel, located on the corner of Carlos Place and Mount Street in Mayfair, London. The hotel is owned and managed by Maybourne Hotel Group.
The Berkeley is a 5-star hotel, located in Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London. The hotel is owned and managed by Maybourne Hotel Group, which also owns Claridge's and The Connaught in Mayfair, London.
The National Asset Management Agency is a body created by the Government of Ireland in late 2009 in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish property bubble.
George Bernard Francis Clarke is an Irish barrister and judge who has served as President of the Law Reform Commission since July 2022. He previously served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 2017 to 2021. Clarke had a successful career as a barrister for many years, with a broad commercial and public law practice. He was the chair of the Bar Council of Ireland between 1993 and 1995. He was appointed to the High Court in 2004, and he became a judge of the Supreme Court in February 2012. After retiring from the bench, he returned to work as a barrister. He is also currently the President of the Irish Society for European Law.
The Bord Gáis Energy Theatre is a performing arts venue, located in the Docklands of Dublin, Ireland. It is Ireland's largest fixed-seat theatre. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind for the DDDA, built by Joe O'Reilly, and opened by Harry Crosbie on 18 March 2010. It is owned by Bernie and John Gallagher, who bought the theatre in 2014 from NAMA, through their company, Crownway.
Derek M Quinlan is an Irish businessman prominent in the field of real estate investment and development. A former tax inspector at the Irish Revenue Commission, he formed investment syndicates with high-net-worth individuals to acquire investment properties across the world. His principal investment vehicle was Quinlan Private, a private equity firm with offices in Dublin, London and New York.
Gerry Gannon is an Irish builder and property developer since the 1980s. Gannon played a significant role in the Irish construction industry in the lead up the bursting of the Irish property bubble. Gannon was one of the key figures involved in the Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy, which was a contributing element in the development of the post-2008 Irish banking crisis.
John Ronan is an Irish businessman and property developer known for establishing Treasury Holdings in 1989 along with Richard Barrett.
The Clarence Hotel is a four-star 51-room hotel located at 6–8 Wellington Quay, Dublin, Ireland. It is in the Temple Bar neighbourhood, on the River Liffey. It first opened in 1852, and bought by U2 lead singer Bono and lead guitarist The Edge and their business partners in 1992, and opened after refurbishment in 1996.
Chateau La Coste is a 600-acre sculpture park, art destination and organic winery in Provence. The property includes Villa La Coste a luxury hotel The sculpture park contains art and architecture by Tadao Ando, Louise Bourgeois, Bob Dylan, Tracey Emin, André Fu, Frank Gehry, Andy Goldsworthy, Christopher Green, Kengo Kuma, Paul Matisse, Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Richard Serra, Conrad Shawcross, Lee Ufan, Ai Weiwei and Franz West. Irish property magnate Paddy McKillen is the estate owner and project manager of the hotel. Wine varietals of the estate include Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Vermentino.
Squatting in the Republic of Ireland is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. In the 1960s, the Dublin Housing Action Committee highlighted the housing crisis by squatting buildings. From the 1990s onwards there have been occasional political squats in Cork and Dublin such as Grangegorman, the Barricade Inn, the Bolt Hostel, Connolly Barracks, That Social Centre and James Connolly House.
Press Up Hospitality Group is a cinema, hotel, pub, retail and restaurant operator based in Dublin, Ireland. Ownership is shared between Paddy McKillen, Jr., son of Paddy McKillen, and Matt Ryan.
Denis McDonald is an Irish judge and lawyer who has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal since November 2024. He previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2018 to 2024. He also previously practised as a barrister with a speciality in commercial law. He was the chair of the Irish Takeover Panel between 2010 and 2018.
Harry Crosbie, is an Irish property developer and entrepreneur from the Dublin suburb of Drumcondra. He is known for his work in redeveloping the Dublin Docklands, and his association with arts and events venues in Dublin city, including the Convention Centre, Vicar Street, The Point Depot/3Arena and the Grand Canal Theatre, as well as the Point Village, and the Wheel of Dublin ferris wheel.
