An interesting office site, opposite the Ulster Bank's Dublin headquarters at George's Quay in Dublin 2, is expected to make in excess of £7 million when it is sold at auction next month through joint agents DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and Kilbride Auctioneers.
The site comprises more than a third of an acre, and has access on to City Quay and frontage on to both Moss Street and Gloucester Street. The zoning objective for the site allows for a wide variety of uses including office and residential. However, it is most likely to be developed as an office complex with at least 60,000 sq ft of space and about 40 underground car-parking spaces, according to Peter Lynch of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.
Whoever acquires the site will inevitably try and buy the adjoining City Arts Centre, which dominates much of the site and attracts the attention of people going south over Matt Talbot bridge. If it is not available, the purchaser may be able to come to an arrangement with the centre to redevelop the entire site and make some of the new space available for the arts. The three-storey over basement centre, with 21,000 sq ft, is controlled by a "not for profit" company called Grapevine. The site's location, directly across the Liffey from the IFSC and within two minutes' walk of Tara Street DART station, will enhance its appeal at a time when there are few office sites available in the city.
Another office site a short distance away at City Quay made a record price when it was auctioned last February. The site, covering 0.46 acres and used for many years as a bus depot, was sold to Elliott developers for £8 million. That company later bought in an adjoining small site for £550,000.
The site now being sold on behalf of a family trust controlled by the McNally and McClancy families measures 0.37 of an acre. Once the site is redeveloped it will open the way for several more office schemes on Gloucester Street where there are a number of old warehouses and a vacant site owned by developer John Byrne.
