Baggot Street hospital could generate €14 million

The distinctive redbrick Baggot Street hospital in Dublin 4 seems likely to be redeveloped as offices, a hotel or apartments following a decision by the Health Service Executive to sell it and use part of the proceeds to fund a new primary care centre in the south inner city.

Agent Savills is not quoting a guide price but sources close to the HSE are suggesting a valuation of about €14 million for the complex, which occupies a substantial site bounded by Baggot Street, Haddington Road and Eastmoreland Lane.

There is also a second property on Eastmoreland Lane, bringing the overall site to 0.71 of an acre (0.29 of a hectare).

Long-term agreement

One of the conditions of the private treaty sale is that whoever buys the hospital will be required to provide a new primary care health centre in a convenient location stretching from Leeson Street to Sandymount and from the Grand Canal to Donnybrook.

The centre can also be based on part of the hospital buildings and grounds where a similar service is currently available.

The HSE is offering to enter into a long-term agreement to lease the new centre at around €193 per sq m (€18 per sq ft) or to take ownership of it in part-exchange for the hospital.

The basic cost of developing a 3,300sq m (35,520sq ft) primary care centre is likely to exceed €5 million apart from the value of the site

Baggot Street hospital has an overall floor area of at least 5,600sq m (60,277sq ft) and comprises the five-storey over-basement Victorian redbrick building fronting on to Upper Baggot Street, a two-storey granite-faced building on Eastmoreland Lane, a later Victorian building at 19 Haddington Road and various modern infill structures of different heights.

A master plan is believed to have been carried out to assess the feasibility of redeveloping the buildings at the rear to maximise their development potential, bearing in mind the protected nature of some of them and reviewing the potential for parts of the site to be demolished and replaced.

Opportunity

The HSE said it viewed the move on Baggot Street as an opportunity to develop primary care and community services in the central Dublin area.

“We recognise the importance of maintaining services to the immediate community using our primary care facilities and for those accessing our regional services which a city centre based facility is well located to provide.”

John Swarbrigg of Savills said a number of local and international investors had already made approaches about the hospital.

He believes there will be more inquiries about it because of the quality of the buildings, the superb location and the favourable dynamics in the Dublin residential, office and hotel markets.

The hospital was founded in a single house at 9 Baggot Street in 1831 by a group of doctors from the Royal College of Surgeons.

It was then known as the City of Dublin Hospital, but in 1900 it had "Royal" added following a visit by Princess Alexandra who had accompanied her mother, Queen Victoria, on her visit to Ireland.