Builders face off over tower

While we’re on the topic of property developers and “balls of steel”, how about a word for Michael O’Flynn, the Cork developer whose €1.8 billion Nama loans are currently on the block.

BAM Construction and John Cleary Developments recently received conditional planning permission from Cork City Council for a €50 million, eight-storey office development on Albert Quay in the city.

Apparently, Tyco Electronics, which recently announced 500 new jobs, is one of the tenants being lined up for the 200,000sq ft building.

The planning permission has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála, where O'Flynn, who developed the Elysian building that backs on to the Albert Quay site, this week registered an objection.

During the council planning process, O’Flynn submitted an observation where he referred, amongst other things, to the proposed new building’s size and scale.

His Elysian tower next door is the tallest building in the country.

O’Flynn’s opposition to the scheme is all the more interesting, given that one would have thought it more likely the new office block would boost the value of the Elysian apartments, rather than depress them.

First bids for O’Flynn’s Nama loans are due in shortly.