A NEW planning application is to be lodged shortly for the former Hibernian United Services Club at 8 St Stephen’s Green in Dublin 2 which has been in receivership for over a year. Planning permission was originally granted for the club to be upgraded but the work was not entirely completed before the owner Hugh O’Regan ran into financial difficulties.
He bought the Georgian building in 2002 for €10 million and is thought to have spent almost as much again on refurbishing it. His plan was to reopen it as a private club for “young and emerging businessmen and women”. That ambition ended in August, 2009, when Anglo Irish Bank sought the repayment of loans totalling €27 million secured on two properties – a vacant building on Parliament Street and the former Hibernian Club.
The receiver, Martin Ferris, is handling the property. Joint agents DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and Kelly Walsh initially looked for offers between €15 and €20 million but are now likely to consider a price in excess of €10 million.
