It's feast or famine down Embassy belt way. This week we hear that Coolbawn, former Ailesbury Road home of bankrupt developer Tom McFeely, is the latest builder's boomtime pad to have sold. Five months after it went on the market asking €3 million, the deal closed last week for a sum believed to be just over €2.5 million. McFeely, who built the disastrous Priory Hall apartment complex in Donaghmede, was ordered out of 2 Ailesbury Road last August, after he had defaulted on a €9.5m mortgage for the property. He was reported to have paid £3.6 million (€4,570,000) in 2001 for Coolbawn. The selling agent, Peter Kenny of Colliers, was staying tight-lipped on the details of the NAMA sale except to say there had been four bidders involved in the process. However, Block sources reveal the five-bed house was bought by an Irish couple who plan to relocate from the UK. Number 2 Ailesbury Road has fallen into disrepair, and it's estimated it will take a further
€1 million investment to restore it to proper residential use. The price achieved for Coolbawn seems almost modest given the head of steam that has been brewing recently in some corners of south Dublin. Take, for example, the recently recorded sale around the corner of Walford, on Shrewsbury Road, for a quite unbelievable €14 million. The house was previously owned by a company related to Gayle Killilea, wife of property developer Seán Dunne. The disparity between the two prices is vast given that both homes are in need of repair and have slightly overlooked gardens.