DEVELOPER SEÁN Dunne is to make a fresh planning application to Dublin City Council for the development of his seven-acre site in Ballsbridge, Dublin, following the rejection of his high-rise plans by An Bord Pleanála.
Mr Dunne spent €450 million four years ago acquiring the site occupied by the Berkeley Court and Jurys hotels, in one of the biggest property deals in the history of the State.
He had hoped to build a €1.5 billion residential, retail and office development, including a 37-storey tower, but An Bord Pleanála yesterday rejected the plans in their entirety and said that they constituted a “gross overdevelopment” of the site.
It said the development contravened the Dublin City Development Plan in including “excessive” retail development and office use which was “neither permitted nor open for consideration” on the site.
Mr Dunne had sought more than 27,000sq m of retail space, 42,000sq m of offices, including an embassy block, and 536 apartments.
The retail and office element did not comply with the residential zoning of the site, the planning board said.
In a statement last night, Mr Dunne’s development company Mountbrook Homes said it would be submitting a “revised application in accordance with the primarily residential zoning”.
In the meantime, the company would continue to operate the D4Hotels, which opened in the former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels shortly after their closure, the statement said.
Some €15 million had been spent in professional fees for the development, Mountbrook said.
It criticised the planning process as “lengthy, expensive, confusing and unworkable” and a “game of roulette”.
To submit a revised application, Mr Dunne will have to return to Dublin City Council, to which he initially applied for permission in August 2007.
The council granted permission for the bulk of the Ballsbridge development, including an 18-storey apartment building on Shelbourne Road, but rejected the 37-storey tower.
Mr Dunne appealed this rejection to An Bord Pleanála, while 36 other appellants objected to the development going ahead.Objectors to the development last night called on Minister for the Environment John Gormley to investigate the handling of the application by Dublin’s city planners.
A spokesman for Mr Gormley said that he would be “very happy” to meet the Ballsbridge residents to discuss their general concerns about planning in Dublin.