AFTER A five-year planning battle, Tom Bailey of Bovale Developments has been granted permission by An Bord Pleanála to demolish a house on Anglesea Road, Dublin 4, and build around 25 apartments. But is it a pyrrhic victory given the state of the property market?
Bailey paid a stonking €6.2m for the house back in 2005. He was hoping to build 29 apartments in four six-storey blocks but An Bord Pleanála reduced the height of two of the blocks.
In 2007, he was refused permission by the board for 36 homes in two blocks on the site, which runs down to the Dodder and backs on to Merrion cricket ground.
Last time the board pointed to the restricted nature of the entrance to the site, and said the apartments would result in overdevelopment of the site. This time the board overruled the concerns of its inspector who pointed to the backland location beside the Dodder and the fact it is so close to some back gardens.
The board, however, said that given the relatively small footprint of the development and measures taken to prevent flooding, the development was acceptable.
Bailey is unlikely to start work straightaway. He is currently extending his Charlestown shopping centre in Finglas where he has also built a few hundred apartments, most still available for sale. Tom and his brother, Mick, can take the pain: they still hold the record of €27 million paid over to the Revenue Commissioners for unpaid taxes. Hope they got a receipt for that.
