KPMG shows interest in Burlington site

Accounting firm KPMG has made tentative expressions of interest in acquiring a large amount of office space in any new development on the site of the Burlington Hotel in central Dublin.

With tenders due next Wednesday, KPMG is understood to have indicted a willingness to engage with certain possible acquirers to pre-let some 27,870sq m (300,000sq ft) of office space on the hotel site.

Such an arrangement would be similar to a deal some years ago in which accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) pre-let 18,580sq m of office space in the Treasury Holdings complex on CIÉ lands at Spencer Dock. PwC is due to move into its new office on that site in the next few months.

KPMG declined to comment on its interest in the Burlington site, but the firm is seeking a single high-quality office location in the city centre for its Irish headquarters. Neither of the units it occupies at St Stephen's Green and the IFSC offers scope for expansion.

The Jurys Doyle hotel chain could realise as much as €300 million from the sale of the 3.8-acre Burlington site, which fronts on to Upper Leeson Street, Sussex Road and Burlington Road. The disposal will result in the loss of 188 full-time and 296 part-time jobs next year. It follows the group's sale to developer Seán Dunne of the Jurys, Berkeley Court and Towers hotels in Ballsbridge. The group is also likely to sell off the Jurys Inn chain of budget hotels.

Controlled by the family of the late PV Doyle, the heavily indebted hotel group plans to use the sale proceeds of the Burlington to invest €200 million in its existing premium hotels and make new acquisitions on the US east coast and Europe. The group also wants to realise money to reduce its debts, which amount to some €870 million.

The Burlington is expected to be redeveloped for shopping, offices, apartments and possibly a smaller hotel.

The selling price will be over €275 million. Given that up to a dozen private equity firms, private banks and large developers are expected to pitch for it, the final figure could well be over €300 million.

CB Richard Ellis is managing the sale. The process is overseen for Jurys Doyle by Crownway Investments, the investment vehicle controlled John Gallagher and his wife Bernie, a member of the Doyle family.