Shrewsbury House clocks up 40% profit in 10 months

Flip of the year, if not the millennium has to go to 2 Shrewsbury Road, the former Embassy of Belgium consulate.

Last October, after the 5,500sq ft residence came up for renewal on its lease, a US-based Irish investor stepped in and purchased the property outright for €4.65 million.

In the intervening year nothing happened, until now. In recent days the property price register confirmed that the property sold for €6.5 million in early August. That’s a 40 per cent profit, in just 10 months, with no structural upgrade.

Shrewsbury House has lain largely untouched for 50 years save for permission granted last year for a modest extension to increase the floor space by about 600sq ft.

However, this was also blown out of the water in August when a new application was submitted by Spirithill Nominees – presumably on behalf of the new owners who we understand are Irish – to extend the property to a whopping 1,676sq m (18,040sq ft).

A house of such a scale is practically unheard of for a single-family residence in Dublin. The plans include an indoor swimming pool, car lift and underground car park. If granted, it will be by far the largest single-home ever granted permission on the street, with a floor space significantly larger than the 1,236sq m (13,304sq ft) mansion that Derek Quinlan was granted permission for 1 & 3 Shrewsbury Road in 2008.

David Bewley of Lisney, who brokered the purchase and subsequent sale of the property, was keeping his lips sealed (behind a barely concealed grin) as to the new owner’s identity.