Irish Life Investment Managers and property developers John Lally and Bernard Duffy have paid close to £16 million for Skehan House, the First Active headquarters at Booterstown, Co Dublin. First Active, which is to relocate next year to new offices in Sandyford, has also secured in the region of £6 million from the sale of 20 branch offices as part of a cost-cutting exercise.
The new owners plan to refurbish the 52,292 sq ft block and make it available for letting towards the end of next year. One of the advantages of the block is that it has 141 car-parking spaces.
Skehan House was built by McLoughlin and Harvey in 1978 and extended six years later to meet the increasing demands for space by the former building society.
Sean O'Brien of Irish Life said the intention is to hold the block as a long term investment. The sale was handled by DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and Palmer McCormack acted for the purchasers.
