A private investor has paid over €3.5 million for the former HQ of property developer Bernard McNamara at 1-3 Ormond Quay. The four-storey over basement office complex and an adjoining house were sold by agents Murphy Mulhall at the request of receivers Duff & Phelps.
Mr McNamara was one of the biggest players in the Republic’s property market when it crashed in 2008, running up debts of €2.7 billion. He secured bankruptcy in the UK in 2012 and recently returned to the Dublin construction scene to handle the redevelopment of the Canada House office block on St Stephen’s Green for businessman Denis O’Brien.
The former McNamara HQ is beside the former Ormond Hotel which was owned at one stage by the developer who bought it in 2006 for €17 million – €14.6 million more than it was sold for in 2012.
The old HQ at 1-3 Ormond Quay extends to 1,610sq m (17,329sq ft) and is let to OpenJaw Technologies on a 10-year lease from 2013 at a rent of €180,400 per annum. The building has a high quality fit-out and three internal lifts. There are eight car-parking spaces on site and two mobile phone masts which are let on a licence agreement at a rent of €44,000 per annum.
The property portfolio also includes a four-storey over basement Georgian building at 4 Ormond Quay and a small warehouse on White Lime Court which can be accessed separately. It is used as a car park.
