You win some, you lose some. Or so it seems in the property game. At least that has been the experience of property developer Brian Rhatigan, who made a name for himself by venturing into Dublin's IFSC against the big boys some years back, redeveloping the old Sheriff Street sorting office. Not many people wanted to take on such a challenge at the time - even British Land and Hardwicke, who were firmly entrenched in the IFSC, didn't bother bidding for the building. The end result is that it is now one of the showpieces of the financial centre, and netted Rhatigan a handsome profit.

After that, Rhatigan had the option of doing a mixed office and apartment scheme on the former Maxol site opposite Heuston Station. But he turned down the opportunity and sold the three and a half acre site to Michael Murphy of Astondale Construction for a reputed £4 million.

It may have seemed a good deal at the time, but now Murphy is on the way to making a killing on the site. He has already built and let 70,000 sq ft of offices to Baltimore Technology and is now developing 159 apartments. More than half of these have already been sold and the rest are due to come on stream in the coming months. With the apartments selling at around £300 (€380) a sq ft, Mr Murphy stands to take in well over £20 million (€25m) in sales alone. The offices, which he is holding on to, have to be worth another small fortune. Good for him.