Dublin City Council is to buy 65 Priory Hall properties, formerly owned by developer Tom McFeely, from the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation in a deal that will be completed in the coming days.
The IBRC will sell the apartments, which are at various stages of completion, to the council for an average of €15,000 each. Once refurbished, the council hopes to sell the 65 apartments for more than €10 million, to offset some of the €27 million redevelopment costs. The remaining costs will be borne by the State.
Part of the cost involves the removal of the defective building material pyrite from the complex.
Details of the redevelopment project were revealed yesterday. All 20 blocks will be taken down and rebuilt in stages with the work due for completion in May 2016.
The frame and roof structure of the building will be left intact. However the external walls will be rebuilt with new brick, insulation and fire proofing. The roof will also have a new covering, insulation and ventilation. All mechanical and electrical installations will be replaced and new fire alarms installed.
Inside each apartment the doors and frames will be replaced, there will be new floors, skirting boards and architraves. Sound proofing will be installed and walls and ceilings will be replastered and painted. New kitchens and bathrooms will be fitted.
In the common areas lifts will be repaired or replaced, stairs and handrails will be refurbished and fire protection installed. The basement will have smoke ventilation, waterproofing, concrete repair and new lighting.
Pyrite, the mineral which can cause cracks and subsidence in buildings, has been found beneath footpaths, roads, basement carparks, stair foundations and four apartments in the complex. This will all be removed and replaced with new materials .
The complex will be redeveloped in a similar style to the original design but the building will be finished in a cream coloured render and pale gold brick.
The 65 properties formerly owned by Mr McFeely, along with 62 apartments whose owner-occupiers were evacuated in October 2011, will then be offered for sale.
The owner-occupiers, eventually had their mortgages written off last year following a two-year struggle.
Under a resolution process overseen by Dr Martin McAleese, a group of 46 have been given fresh mortgages to buy properties, or have stayed in the private rented sector.
Sixteen families who no longer have the means to service mortgages or private rents are being housed by the council. New homes have been found for 13 of them, with three remaining in temporary accommodation waiting to be housed.
