Missed your chance to buy Gorse Hill on Killiney’s Vico Road for €9.5 million? Never mind, for a mere €348,000 a year affluent renters can move to Mount Eagle next door, a fully-furnished seafront villa considered to be one of Dublin’s finest homes, on a stunning private site.
When Mount Eagle sold to its current owner, businessman Alistair Tidey, in 1997 for about €3.8 million (£3m) in an off-market deal, it was the most expensive home ever sold in Dublin.
Mount Eagle is a classic granite mansion extending to 464sq m (5,000sq ft), decorated in a period style. Unlike many Dublin mansions of its calibre, it is completely unspoiled and devoid of any modern extensions. The property also features an attractive two-storey converted coachhouse offering a gym, sauna and two additional bedrooms.
While the interiors are impressive, they are not dissimilar to the decor of many of Dublin’s grandest period homes; what sets it apart and helps command its sky-high price tag of €29,000 a month are its views and grounds, which could be mistaken for a premium home on the French Riviera. The property enjoys unparalleled privacy, uninterrupted views over Killiney Bay and acres of exquisite tiered Italianate grounds that comprise formal gardens, a swimming pool, tennis court, lawns and wooded walking trails.
Landmark homes
Tidey has a taste for landmark homes. In 2006 he acquired “the most photographed house in Italy” – Podere Belvedere in the Val d’Orcia, Tuscany. The picturesque Italian farmhouse carried a €2.7 million price tag and included six-bedrooms, a swimming pool and an olive grove.
The complex was flipped by its new owner, Scottish investor Mark Shaw, for €50 million in 2014
Italian investments have, however, also proven unprofitable for the businessman’s family. A company owned by Tidey’s wife had a 22 per cent stake in Irish Italian Property Holdings, a company whose other shareholders included developers Paddy Kelly, Liam Maye and Joe O’Reilly.
A subsidiary of the company developed a hotel and apartment complex at Pragelato at a reported cost of €110 million, and was sold for just €30 million in 2011. As debt owed to Anglo Irish Bank of a reported €80 million on the complex far outweighed the sale proceeds, the Irish investors likely lost all of their equity. The complex was subsequently flipped by its new owner, Scottish investor Mark Shaw, for €50 million in 2014.
Alleged unpaid loans
In March of this year US fund Cerberus reportedly sought judgments against Tidey for €3.49 million over alleged unpaid loans for property and other investments. During the hearing, it was suggested that Tidey has been living in the Turks and Caicos islands, which may be the reason for his decision to lease Mount Eagle at a price that will probably make it Dublin’s most expensive long-term rental property ever. The letting agent for the property is Five Star (fivestar.ie).
Previous owners had included bookmaker-turned-property-investor Joe Donnelly, who squirrelled away a few acres of its gardens to develop an ultra-modern private art gallery, before selling the original house on about four acres to the late Pino Harris.
