Loyola, a house on 1.25 acres being sold by the Jesuit order, comes with planning permission for 18 apartments
A RESIDENTIAL site going for sale today at the junction of Sandford Road and Eglinton Road in Dublin 4 will be seen as the best redevelopment opportunity to have been brought on to the market since the industry took a severe hit.
Agents CB Richard Ellis is quoting €2.5 million for the three-storey house, Loyola, owned by the Jesuit order, which was extensively damaged by fire in 2007. It stands on a site of 0.512 hectares (1.25 acres) with frontage on to Sandford Road and EglintonRoad. Large detached houses in this prestigious corner of Dublin 4 – within easy walking distance of both Donnybrook and Ranelagh – were selling for more than €5 million before the market took a dive.
Loyola was not listed for preservation but was one of the largest houses in the area with a floor area of 751sq m (8,083sq ft). It served as the headquarters of the Jesuit order in Ireland.
Only last month, An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for an apartment development on the site with seven homes to be located in the original building and 11 more in a new block.
Eight of the apartments will have two bedrooms, six will have three bedrooms and the remaining four will have one bedroom.
If the site is sold at the asking price it will work out at slightly less than €140,000 per unit. At the peak of the market, sites in south Dublin sold for up to €300,000 per unit.
Wesley Rothwell said the sale should appeal to a variety of buyers, from owner occupiers who may choose to restore the original house, to embassies, nursing home operators, developers and investors.
However, the likelihood is that it will be bought by one of a handful of Dublin developers who were lucky to have offloaded completed housing stock and not to have been lumbered with overvalued sites when the market turned in 2008.
Loyola is one of the first of a number of residential sites expected to come on the market in south Dublin over the coming months. Most of the others will be offered for sale by receivers but it is by no means certain they will find buyers unless there is a significant easing of the credit restrictions.
