Rathfarnham abbey for €2.5m

Loreto Abbey, a classical collection of former college, school and church buildings in Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, is to be offered for sale at a knockdown price of €2.5 million after lying idle for the past 14 years.

Receiver David Carson has appointed Savills to handle the sales campaign for the Georgian buildings which stand on a site of 1.82 hectares (4.49 acres) along Grange Road.

Loreto Abbey and the adjoining 12 acres were bought in 1999 by property developer Liam Carroll for a reputed €14 million. He subsequently built and sold 10 blocks of apartments with a total of 271 units.

He also obtained planning permission to convert some of the buildings into a 113-bedroom nursing home but did not proceed with the plan. Mr Carroll’s Danninger company was one of the first to collapse in the property crash.

The Loreto buildings have an overall floor area of 8,627sq m (92,860sq ft) and have been extensively weatherproofed over the last six months. The site’s residential zoning opens the way for a range of uses including conversion to apartments, nursing home, medical facilities and education.

Jill Horan of Savills said the property provides developers, speculators and owner-occupiers with a "truly superb canvass to work from". She said the buildings had huge development potential and offered developers an opportunity to create a unique residential or commercial scheme.

Already a stand-alone crèche developed in the grounds by Liam Carroll in 2007 is to be sold separately by Savills. A price of €650,000 is being sought for the single storey building which is let to Giraffe Childcare Ltd at €90,000 per annum.

Most of the buildings on site are linked by a central Georgian house which was formerly known as Rathfarnham House. It was built in 1725 by William Pallister before its purchase in 1821 by Archbishop Murray of Dublin for €2,000. This became known as The Abbey and is flanked by the Irish granite wings of the church (1846) and St Anne's to the south with Block L and the concert hall added between 1863 and 1903.

The buildings are a treasury trove of architectural gems from the beautiful church with its vaulted ceilings and magnificent stained glass windows through to the Abbey with its splendid plasterwork and gracious living accommodation.

The range of buildings are set back from Grange Road and are approached by a double driveway and overlook attractive pleasure grounds with mature timber stands.

Whatever enterprise ends up in Loreto Abbey, the promoters will obviously have to consider the provision of a car park under part of the front grounds.