Merrion Hotel owners pay €11.2m for two apartments in new wing

Joint owners of the exclusive Merrion Hotel on Dublin's Merrion Square, Lochlann Quinn and Martin Naughton, have purchased the top two floors of the hotel's latest accommodation wing.

The two businessmen are understood to have separately purchased – off plans – the penthouse apartment occupying the entire fourth floor for €4.1 million, and the third floor for €7.1 million as far back as 2014 when the property market was still on the floor.

At the time of the low key launch, the majority of the 11 residences were quickly sale agreed for seven-figure sums following an off market campaign by agent David Bewley of Lisney. Now construction is complete and the property price register has revealed the sky-high prices.

When a penthouse sold last year for €6.5 million at the brand new Lansdowne Place development it was believed to be the highest price ever paid for an apartment in the State. However it now appears this record had already been set when the top price of €7.1 million was paid for the third floor at the Merrion Hotel.

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Originally intended as three separate apartments known as Residences 8, 9 and 10, the buyer has combined the lot into a single apartment with 512 sq m (5,511 sq ft) of lateral interior space, in addition to 68 sq m (732 sq ft) of outdoor terraces. Its size may well position it as Dublin’s largest apartment, as well as its most expensive.

The €4.1 million penthouse, Residence 11, runs to 280sq m (3,014 sq ft) of interior space and occupies the fourth floor.

Considering houses along exclusive Shrewsbury Road were achieving as little as €2 million when the residences at The Merrion were quietly launched, the prices achieved here are significant – especially when they were marketed for sale as “shell and core” units, ie the buyer is responsible for the expense of both laying out and fitting out their units.

The Merrion Hotel is controlled by businessman, Lochlann Quinn, Glen Dimplex founder and billionaire, Martin Naughton, and the Hastings Hotel Group, the Northern Ireland hotel company controlled by Billy Hastings.

Another purchaser bought two adjoining apartments on the first floor, combining them to create a lateral unit extending to 337 sq m (3,627 sq ft). Due to the various unit combinations, there are now only eight separate apartments in the scheme, which, by virtue of its location, security and the cachet of being in the Merrion Hotel, may well be Ireland’s most exclusive apartment block.

The highest price per sq m was €15,624 per sq m for Residence 6 on the second floor, a 160 sq m (1,722 sq ft) unit overlooking the hotel’s landscaped courtyard.

The least expensive apartment in the block was €1.1 million for a 125 sq m (1,345 sq ft) duplex overlooking Baggot Street, likely to be laid out as a luxurious one-bedroom unit.