Apartments for half-built office block

A UK COMPANY with Irish links is to spend about €15 million on converting a half-built office building into an apartment development at Sandyford, Co Dublin.

The Comer Group, run by Galway-born brothers Luke and Brian Comer, has apparently told planning officials in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council that, provided they get planning approval, they will be going ahead with the completion of the 13-storey Sentinel block which was being built by Cork-based Fleming Construction until work was abandoned after the property crash.

The ACC loans associated with it ended up in Nama and Savills acted as asset managers for the unfinished building.

The Comer Group, which paid close to €1 million for the part- built block, has been actively looking for apartment investments in Dublin since the collapse of the market. The group recently bought two completed apartment blocks at Blanchardstown Town Centre and Milners Square in Santry for an overall figure of €22 million.

The Sentinel building, which will accommodate about 125 apartments when completed, has been the subject of controversy over the past six months because of safety concerns expressed by public representatives. Officials of Dún Laoghaire council, who wrote to the Comer Group seeking a copy of a recent structural report on the safety of the tower, confirmed this week that it recently held a “pre-planning meeting” with the new owners.

The sale to the Comer Group included a shared underground car park. About 350 other apartments and a range of shops in an adjoining block known as The Boulevard were separately financed by AIB and KBC. One of the retail units is occupied by the discount supermarket Aldi, while eight other shops are for sale or to rent.

The fact that Fleming Construction ran into severe difficulties on the former Allegro site is hardly surprising given that it paid €165 million for it a week after owners Treasury Holdings, financier Derek Quinlan and developer David Arnold, got permission to build 880 apartments there.

In spite of the remarkable price obtained by the vendors, they have each been severely affected by the property crash.