College of Surgeons pays £5m for office

THE Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has acquired the ABN Amro building on St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, as a long-term investment. The college is understood to have paid under £5 million for the premises, which adjoins the college.

In another significant office sale, property developer David Arnold has paid in excess of £4 million for a 23,000-square-foot office building at 6 Burlington Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, which is to be vacated in 12 months by Bank of Ireland Finance.

Finnegan Menton, which advised the College of Surgeons on the purchase of the bank premises, is to offer it for letting on the open market. It is one of the most distinctive modern blocks on St Stephen's Green with 23,000 square feet of space on five floors over a basement car-park. The award winning building was designed by Scott Tallon Walker and was completed in 1981. ABN has shared the accommodation with the Danish Embassy. The Lisney agency handled the sale.

The decision to acquire the modern office block will be seen as an important strategic move by the college which has been located on St Stephen's Green for around 200 years. The RCSI is developing a 525-space multi-storey car-park at the rear of the college, which is likely to be in constant demand because of its location beside Grafton Street. The development will include five shops, seminar rooms and college apartments.

The area is to benefit from a new £10 million hotel which is under construction between the college and the St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre. The Fitzwilliam Hotel Group is to operate the 130-bedroom hotel and an integrated car-park. Finnegan Menton also advised the hotel group.

ABN Amro is to relocate its operations next May to the International Financial Services Centre, where it has paid an estimated £16 million for a high quality 42,000-square-foot building. The bank will be the main traders in the Custom House Plaza, a 200,000-square-foot development, which is the largest under construction in the city. The first phase, which will include 140,000 square feet, is to be completed between May and July next.

The St Stephen's Green bank premises and the leasehold interest in another office building in Dame Street were acquired by Mr Brian Rhatigan's development company in part exchange for the IFSC block.

The office block at 6 Burlington Road acquired by Mr Arnold has been sold by the Bank of Ireland as part of overall programme of cutbacks in its office accommodation. The five-storey block has on-site parking for 55 cars. Internally, it has raised platform floors but will need to be refurbished at a cost of at least £1 million.

Willy Dowling handled the sale for the bank and Peter Stapleton of Lisney acted for Mr Arnold.