Church to sell Dún Laoghaire town centre site

Suburban Redevelopment:St Michael's parish in Dún Laoghaire is looking for €15m for its 0.48-acre community centre site. Jack Faganreports.

An exceptionally well-located town centre redevelopment site is to be offered for sale today in Dún Laoghaire by St Michael's Catholic parish.

Donal Kellegher of Savills Hamilton Osborne King is suggesting a guide price of €15 million for the Boylan Community Centre and adjoining hall on a site of 0.19 hectares (0.48 of an acre) at Sussex Street and Eblana Avenue, directly beside the nurses home of St Michael's Hospital.

It is also just off Upper Georges Street and Marine Road and within a few minutes' walking distance of Bloomfield and Dún Laoghaire shopping centres.

In the current Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Development Plan, the site is zoned under objective MTC - major town centre.

The planners have identified the parish centre as an underutilised infill site suitable for a major redevelopment.

The zoning permits a wide range of high value uses but, according to Kellegher, one option would be to seek planning for 55 apartments and about 1,393sq m (15,000sq ft) of retail space. Such a plan would involve a six-storey block which would be lower than the adjoining nursing home.

Though development sites seldom become available in Dún Laoghaire, solicitor and developer Noel Smyth recently acquired the one-acre car park attached to St Michael's Hospital which fronts onto Crofton Road.

He is believed to have paid well over €20 million for what is a key site in the borough. Bannon Commercial advised the hospital on the sale.

Dún Laoghaire has seen substantial commercial and residential rejuvenation in recent years and now contains a strong retail core even without the poorly-designed Dún Laoghaire shopping centre.

The Boylan Centre was originally built by the church in 1968 as a temporary structure to meet parish needs when the previous church was destroyed by fire.

Since the completion of the new church, it has been used as a temporary parish centre.

The parish is now planning to build a new pastoral centre to meet the needs of the parish beside St Michael's Church, linking with the tower and the church.

It is expected that the sale of the Boylan Centre will fund the cost of the new centre, essential repairs to the church and provide for the future needs of the parish.