THE HEAD of property company Shelbourne Developments’ Irish operations is leaving the company.

Chris O’Connell confirmed yesterday that he was leaving the business, the developer behind one of the world’s tallest residential buildings in the US, to pursue other options.

“The traditional development market in Ireland is in suspended animation and may continue like that for a number of years,” he said yesterday.

“But I believe that current crisis will generate great opportunities both for advisory and investment work and I want to be in a position to respond to those.”

Shelbourne is headed by businessman Garrett Kelleher and is involved in a number of projects in Ireland, Britain, Europe and the US.

One of its highest-profile developments is the Chicago Spire in the US, a residential tower block with 1,190 apartments. Work is currently under way on the project.

In Ireland, it has residential sites in Ranelagh, close to Dublin city centre, and industrial and mixed-use sites on the city’s outskirts

Elsewhere it owns an office block in the La Défense district of Paris, a number of properties in the Leopold region of Brussels, the Lloyds of London building in the City of London and an office block close to St Paul’s in the centre of the British capital.

Mr O’Connell said yesterday that the proposed National Asset Management Agency (Nama), designed to take bad loans off the banks’ books and free up credit, would be a watershed in the Irish property business.

“In the short term it’s going to mean uncertainty for developers, bankers and investors alike, but it’s the key to the resurrection of this market over the next decade and its going to generate significant business opportunities at a number of different levels,” he predicted.

He added that he was in talks with a number of international investors who were monitoring developments in the business here, and said that such investors would ultimate return to the Irish market.

Before joining Shelbourne, Mr O’Connell was a director of IBI Corporate Finance where he was adviser on a number of deals, including Ryanair’s initial public offering (IPO), the merger of Avonmore and Waterford to form Glanbia, and the purchase of Doyle Hotels by the then Jurys Group to form Jury’s Doyle.

Mr O’Connell said his departure from Shelbourne was “entirely amicable” and that he would remain engaged in an advisory capacity in respect of a number of specific projects.

Mr Kelleher said yesterday that he wished Mr O’Connell the best for the future.