Developer Joe O’Reilly welcomes Joe Biden to ‘new home’ in Dublin 4

The developer of the planned new United States embassy complex in Dublin 4 has delivered a lighthearted welcome to US president Joe Biden to coincide with his visit to Ireland this week.

“Welcome Home, Mr President” declares the sign that has just gone up at the site of the former Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge, which it is understood the US government has committed to purchase from Joe O’Reilly’s Chartered Land and its financial backer, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), as its new premises.

The site, just across the road from the long-standing home of the existing US embassy, has been rezoned for office use with permission granted by Dublin City Council in January 2022 for the demolition of the hotel, clearing the way for the development of a new embassy complex. The US government intends to retain its distinctive 1964 embassy building, set on a triangular site at the junction of Elgin and Pembroke roads, for up to a decade while construction takes place on the Jurys site.

Savills, the agent that brokered the €150 million deal, says it has assembled a team to prepare the planning application for the new embassy.

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“[Our] team is conducting pre-planning due diligence and developing a visionary design for the new embassy,” says Mark Reynolds, managing director of Savills Ireland.

Plans for the Jurys site have been the subject of several rounds of speculation ever since it was sold to developer Sean Dunne for €275 million in 2005.