The Big Developers:They have been in a cut-throat business for 30 years, but unlike others who leave dismay in their wake, the Cosgrave brothers scatter pixie dust, writes Kathy Sheridan.
The Cosgrave brothers must have stepped on someone's toes in their 30-year reign over the Dublin property scene, but if so, no one seems to remember. Unlike others who leave human debris and dismay in their explosive wake, the Cosgraves scatter pixie dust. Throughout the industry, there is the same definitive, single-word response to queries about them: "Gentlemen." Or even: "Absolute gentlemen."
Their consistent drive for quality is invariably a feature of the comments: "Some of the others might do just about what's necessary on a site, but the Cosgraves actually care. If [ named developer] didn't have to put heavy gauge railing around an open space, he wouldn't. The Cosgraves would, simply because they'd see it as the right thing to do," says an industry source.
But the goodwill is not simply down to quality buildings. Says another industry source not known for his goodwill towards developers: "It would restore your faith in human nature that good guys could make a few quid in a tough business . . . They are genuinely nice, decent guys and they're not stupid, just sound."
A professional who has worked on complex Cosgrave projects is equally effusive: "I couldn't say enough good things about Joe Cosgrave. He's just a really nice guy . . . Of all of them, I would single him out as being very good and generous. And he's willing to take advice".
The original three Cosgrave brothers are Michael, Peter and Joe, who range in age from 48 to 43. A fourth brother, Willie, in his early 30s, is now also involved, and their sister, Helen, is involved at the accountancy end of the business.
"There is no leader, which is most unusual in a successful company," says one who knows them well. "Peter tends to look after the commercial side, while Michael and Joe are more hands-on-site. Some people suggest that Peter is the brains, more of the intellect behind it, and he has developed the commercial side, but he couldn't have done that without the finance generated from the thriving residential end."
None of the three had a third-level education. "If there is an academic-type deep-thinker among them," says a friend, "it would probably be Peter. He's a bit different, quieter and can be seen as hard work to talk to, where Joe is more jovial and loves the craic." All three were tradesmen to begin with - Joe and Peter were carpenters, Michael drove machines - which may surprise some who believe that the brothers were born with silver spoons in their mouths.
They were reared in Churchtown, Dublin, where their father, Jack, ran the animal pound and bred turkeys and pigs for sale. His money-making instinct was passed on to his sons, along with a shrewd brain, motivation and a code of ethics, but he was by no means a wealthy man in those years. He would tell stories about the time the cats got at the turkeys they needed to sell for Christmas, for example, leaving them with little to celebrate. But he had also been a man about town in the 1960s, his drinking buddies including fellow Churchtown man PV Doyle, the late hotelier, and he had combined a life-long interest in snooker with the ownership of Jason's snooker hall in Ranelagh.
Joe, Peter and Michael were still in their early 20s when they began their foray into house-building as Cosgrave Brothers, starting with a handful of houses in Bluebell and the purchase in 1979 of five housing sites in Stillorgan from the late property developer, Patrick Gallagher.
"They're tough - but not with the same extreme eh, cute hoorness, that you'd see in other fellas in the business," says an acquaintance. "They're always ready to give a hand-out and they have great connections. You'd never hear a word of jealousy out of them about others. Ego doesn't come into it."
But that should not be mistaken for a lack of shrewdness. For example, when they built an 80-apartment development on a prime four-acre site in Simmonscourt, Ballsbridge, in the mid-1990s, they chose to rent rather than sell them. "If those 80-odd apartments had been sold then, they'd have gone for around €100,000 each. Now they're worth about three-quarters of a million to €1 million each, a big advance on the €10 million total it would have cost for the site and the apartments in the first place. But look at the land they're on - based on Seán Dunne values, that four acres is worth around €200 million now. If you demolished all the apartments, you'd get even more for the site. Cute move."
In recent years, it is estimated that they have spent more than half a billion euro investing in England, and the same again in New York.
In the early 1990s, Jack Cosgrave went into partnership with his son-in-law Bryan Cullen, with a company called Jackson Properties, to which the brothers may have had some initial input. When Jack died in 2004, at the age of 73, he left almost €54 million in his will. The old animal pound registration book was one of the mementos of his life presented at the huge funeral. His wife Patricia - "she was the original Irish mammy; to her the boys were 'The Men' and none of them left the family home till they got married" - still lives in the house where Jack was born.
The couple's legacy is a bunch of united siblings who choose to work and play together. They live low-key lives, in lovely houses in desirable areas, such as Sandycove, Mount Anville and overlooking the Castle Golf Club in Rathfarnham. They all have mobile homes at the rather affluent end of Brittas Bay, in Ballincarrig. Joe was the last of them to move in to Brittas about four years ago, "and he clearly wouldn't have moved in at that stage if they were just putting on a united front", adds a friend. He also has a villa in Marbella that was "good value" 10 years ago and may have a share in a horse. "They're not at all flamboyant or into trophy purchases, such as racing cars or speedboats," says an acquaintance. They share a helicopter with others and avail of private jets, says the friend - which, on Planet Developer, is rather restrained behaviour.
Joe's is the Cosgrave face at the charity balls - "bidding quietly but generously" - and the main networker by all accounts. Last year he hosted a €10,000 table for Bill Clinton's Leadership for the Futureaddress in the Burlington Hotel, where his guests included Albert Reynolds.
