Around the Block: Looks like Tony Ryan will have his model village at the Lyons estate up and running for the Ryder Cup with uber chef Richard Corrigan at the helm of two restaurants opening there tomorrow.
Meath-man Corrigan runs a string of successful restaurants in London, though he's probably better known in Ireland for his rant against battery chickens on the Late Late Show. The Lyons village has been a pet project of Tony Ryan's ever since he bought the 600-acre estate from Michael Smurfit in 1996. Smurfit had bought it a few years earlier from UCD who had owned Lyons since the 1960s, using it as an training ground for Ag Science students. Interestingly, UCD always considered the estate to be in Newcastle, Co Dublin while, these days, most media reports place it "near Celbridge in Co Kildare".
The main house, once considered a white elephant, is now one of the best houses in Ireland, while the village has had a fortune spent on it too, its cut-stone cottages transformed with a wealth of architectural salvage from all over the world. Valentine Lawless, the 2nd Lord Cloncurry, who was responsible for creating the Lyons estate in the late 1790s, would have approved. He spent a staggering £200,000 on renovation, included frescoes by Gaspare Gabrielli and imported three shiploads of classical art from Italy, including three porticoes from the temple of Nero.
No shortage of sites
The constant complaint about the shortage of serviced land is looking a bit weak at the moment. In fact, we have never seen so many plum sites for sale in the greater Dublin area with eye-watering prices to match. One example is a site of just over 1.3 acres at Blackpitts in Dublin 8 which was sold less than two years ago for just over €12 million. Its investor owners - Paddy Kelly jnr, Paul Pardy and Niall MacFadden - got planning permission on it for 90 apartments and offices, and have put it back on the market at €28 million-plus. Isouth Dublin suburbs, more and more big old houses with gardens are being flogged off as development sites. With such a huge demand for homes in mature areas, anyone with over 60ft of garden seems eligible to cash in on the building boom - while it lasts.
Gaining grounds
When it comes to larger sites it's hard to outbid the reclusive Liam Carroll who is the Warren Buffet of the Irish property scene, complete with old car and a seemingly unending supply of cash. This week he moved to buy Dalymount Park soccer ground in Phibsboro for €45 million cash and the promise of a 10,000-seat stadium on part of the former Dunloe Ewart land near Dublin Airport. With such a huge land portfolio - including 300 acres at Cherrywood and huge tracts in the Dublin Docklands - it's hard to fathom his appetite for more. Several other football grounds in the city must be gearing up for a similar deal, not to mention the grassy acres given over to rugby that are under constant scrutiny by moneybags like Dermot Desmond, Bernard McNamara et al.
Comings and goings
A week of comings and goings in the industry as competition intensifies between the agents. Irwin Druker, doyen of the commercial scene, surprised everyone this week when he and his team joined forces with Bannon Commercial who previously split from Harrington Bannon. Druker has been a major player for years, handling all Dunnes Stores business, as well as the Eircom Pension Fund which recently sold the Pavilions shopping centre for €575 million. He's going to a good stable which already advises Joe O'Reilly, who controls close to €2 billion of commercial properties in the Dublin area. Douglas Newman Good was taken by surprise last week when four of its top mortgage people walked out the door and set up in competition from new offices in Sandyford. DNG's finance arm GMC has been a serious earner for the firm, pulling in up to €10 million a year in brokers' fees. The breakaway group, who had planned their move for nine months, has set up in business as Hurson, Moore Power, led by Brian Hurson who was with GMC for six years. His new partners are David Moore and Colm Power, along with Clare Dooley who also left GMC in a last minute Jerry Maguire-like move.
