Bartra Capital Property, the property company founded by Richard Barrett, has purchased the newly restored St George's Church on Temple Street on Dublin's north inner city for about €3 million. The 19th-century church has been let as offices to the adjoining Temple Street Children's University Hospital for another eight years at an annual rent of €225,000, giving the new owner a return of 8.5 per cent.
Mr Barrett, one of the founders of Treasury Holdings, plans to develop a business to supply social housing to local authorities around Ireland. Bartra has also acquired sites with planning permission for over 450 nursing home beds. Construction of the first nursing home at Loughshinny in north Dublin has already commenced. In addition, the company has also a considerable portfolio of housing sites and separately has invested in a number of wind energy projects.
The sale of St George’s Church was handled by joint agents Arthur Ryan Property Consultants and Cushman & Wakefield.
Warm approval
The church was originally acquired at the end of 2002 by Navan property developer Eugene O’Connor who over the past 20 years attracted warm approval for his work on restoring classical buildings. He spent considerable funds on upgrading the 200ft high sandstone tower and spire on St George’s Church and converting the inside of the building into high-class offices.
The fact that the church is as broad as it is long allowed him to install two “floating” raised access floors which have been tastefully integrated into the fabric of the building to bring the overall floor area up to 2,043sq m (22,000sq ft). Temple Street’s clerical staff have the use of a range of high-tech features to ensure a smooth running operation.
For the new owner, there is the added benefit of two licence agreements and €35,000 in annual fees from Vodafone and Meteor, which have communications equipment on the roof of the building.
