A RELATIVELY SMALL redevelopment site in the centre of Rathmines, Dublin 6, bought at the height of the property boom in 2006 by developer Ray Grehan for an exorbitant €1.9 million, is now back on the market with a guide price of €280,000.
The 85 per cent slippage in value underlines how severe the fall has been in the value of development sites as opposed to completed buildings due to the absence of debt financing. In many cases, apartments and houses can be bought for significantly less than it costs to build them.
Grehan’s company, the Glenkerrin Group, which is now in receivership, had acquired the Rathmines site to provide social and affordable residential units as a condition for developing the former Veterinary College site in Ballsbridge. He paid €171.5 million – a record price per acre of €84 million – for the D4 site which was recently valued at around €20 million, a drop of 88 per cent.
Agent Hooke MacDonald is handling the sale of the Rathmines property, formerly owned by Rowan’s Bakery, which is located alongside the Swan Leisure complex and directly to the rear of DIT Rathmines.
The site extends to 0.1 of an acre and includes a single-storey warehouse with a floor area of 234sq m (2,520sq ft). A planning permission to develop four two-bedroom apartments and three one-bed units has elapsed, but the selling agent says the site is also ideal for three or four townhouses.
Enda Moore of Hooke MacDonald says there is strong demand for rental properties in the Rathmines area or, alternatively, a new owner could seek permission for a leisure centre, trade showrooms or for wholesale or retail uses.
