Just one week after offering a prime Dublin residential development site it owns in the South Dublin suburb of Foxrock for sale for €11.5 million, Richmond Homes, the house building arm of real estate investment firm Avestus Capital Partners, is seeking a buyer for another of its holdings in the capital.
In this instance, the company is looking to dispose of the former St Mary’s nursing home at Pembroke Park in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Having paid in excess of €6 million to acquire the property in 2018 in the face of strong competition, Richmond Homes has, since then, secured planning permission for two potential residential schemes on its 0.85-acre site.
With approval now in place for the development of either 23 owner-occupier apartments or 64 build-to-rent units, joint agents Cushman & Wakefield and Sherry Fitzgerald Commercial are guiding a price of €7 million for the site.
The first planning permission (DCC Ref: 2424/19 ABP Ref: PL29S. 305005) was granted to Richmond Homes’ vehicle, the Pembroke Road Partnership, in 2020 for 23 apartments, comprising three one-bedroom apartments, 15 two-bedroom apartments and five three-bedroom apartments over basement car parking for 25 spaces.
The second, more recent planning permission (DCC Ref: 2704/21 APB Ref: PL29S. 312425) meanwhile was granted in May of this year and allows for the development of a basement-free 64 unit Build-to-Rent (BTR) scheme, comprising 19 studios, 41 one-bedroom apartments and four two-bedroom apartments, set out in four blocks including a reconfiguration of the existing, vacant St Mary’s nursing home with parking for four cars at surface level.
The Pembroke Park site is located on the southern end of Dublin’s central business district (CBD), with the major employment hub of Ballsbridge located just 500 metres away. Significant local employers include Meta, Amazon Ireland and the Bank of Ireland.
The subject site occupies an enviable location in terms of amenities and sits just beyond the western boundary of Herbert Park, which is directly accessible from the proposed development via a pedestrian walkway.
The villages of Ballsbridge and Donnybrook offer a wide variety of quality food and beverage destinations, including Avoca and Roly’s in Ballsbridge, and Donnybrook Fair and Marco Pierre White’s Courtyard Bar & Grill in Donnybrook.
In terms of its accessibility, the N11 national route is situated just 350 metres from the property while the Luas green line stop in Ranelagh and Lansdowne Dart station are within a 20- and 15-minute walk respectively in either direction.
Paul Nalty of Cushman & Wakefield and Kevin Leonard of Sherry Fitzgerald Commercial say: “This site represents an attractive lot size situated in one of the most sought-after addresses in Dublin. With the planning risk removed we envisage high demand emerging for this ready-to-go development opportunity.”
