RedevelopmentSite: The ESB building at the entrance to Temple Bar will be demolished and replaced with a hotel or a mixed-use scheme, writes Jack Fagan.
Estate agent Lisney is to sell what is easily the best located redevelopment site to come on the market in Dublin's Temple Bar area in recent years.
The extensive ESB offices and showrooms at the entrance to Temple Bar on Fleet Street will be demolished by new owners and replaced either by a hotel or a mixed-use development of shops, restaurants, offices and apartments.
James Nugent of Lisney says he expects to secure €30 million for the property - the same figure was achieved recently for the nearby offices and printing works of The Irish Times - when it goes to tender on October 6th.
The ESB is also to sell by separate tender on the same date a lease on 30 car-parking spaces in the adjoining Temple Bar multi-storey car-park. The spaces are held on a 35-year lease from the end of 1995 at €3,850 per space. Though the rental level is on the high side, even for such a well located car-park, the facility will obviously be of interest to anyone bidding for the ESB offices with the intention of replacing them with a hotel. Other hotels in the area, as well as companies based in the city centre, are also likely to be interested in taking an assignment of this lease.
With redevelopment opportunities in the south inner city hard to come by, there is certain to be strong interest in the ESB premises as it has a street frontage of 63 metres (208ft) along busy Fleet Street.
The L-shaped building, dating from the 1960s, has a gross floor area of 4,058sq m (43,680sq ft) over four levels, including basement. The site of 0.16 hectares (0.4 of an acre) backs on to the Bank of Ireland building on College Green and has Parliament Lane on one side running from Fleet Street along the side of the building to provide a rear access. The Z5 zoning provides for a fairly broad range of developments - "to consolidate and facilitate the development of the central area, and to identify, reinforce and strengthen the protected civic design, character and dignity".
With some adjoining buildings considerably higher than the ESB offices, there is obvious scope to develop a much larger block on the site.
James Nugent says that with such a huge frontage on to Fleet Street, there is clearly an opportunity to provide at least 1,848sq m (16,000sq ft) of retail accommodation along the street, not to mention basement level.
Given the demand for both retail and residential space in the area, there would be lots of takers for the upper floors of any development. Alternatively, it would not be a surprise if an entertainment use or a hotel was constructed on the site.
Although Bank of Scotland (Ireland) acquired the former ESB retail network for use as new bank branches, the Fleet Street premises was excluded from that deal.
Temple Bar continues to attract increasing numbers of overseas visitors. Most of the area's 54 bars, 75 restaurants and cafés, and six hotels, are trading exceptionally well.
