Donnybrook seminary at €10m may be top residential scheme

An exceptional site for an expensive residential development or a high-end hotel goes for sale from today at the former St Mary's Carmelite seminary on Bloomfield Avenue in Donnybrook, Dublin 4. It is one of the best located sites to have come on the market in recent years.

Joint agents GVA Donal O Buachalla and WK Nowlan Property will invite offers of more than €10 million for the period buildings and 3.09 acres of mature gardens and woodlands bounded by not only Bloomfield Avenue but also the Royal Hospital, Bloomfield Park residential scheme and the Carmelite retreat centre.

The monastery and college date from 1875 and were extended at various times up to the 1940s to cater for up to 50 seminarians. Vocations to the priesthood have fallen off dramatically over the past 20 years and the Carmelite order now has 34 members in Ireland.

The order said they were selling “this historic property as it has become surplus to our requirements with the building of the Avila Retreat Centre”.

The funds generated by the sale would be used to support their various ministries, including their mission in Nigeria and provision for the retired and elderly members of their communities.

A feasibility study by John McLaughlin Architects suggests there is potential for more than 10,500sq m (113,022sq ft) of developments on the site to include 90 apartments and 10 large houses. The report also suggests there is scope to convert 1,670sq m (17,976 sq ft) of St Mary’s building for residential or other uses.

The period building is not listed and extends to 3,251sq ft (35,000sq ft) including a chapel on one wing.

Density

Fergal Burke of GVA Donal O Buachalla said that while they were anticipating a residential density of at least 100 to 120 homes, they could not rule out the possibility that the property might be acquired for a hotel or for education or medical services as well as for an embassy.

The selling agents said that they were expecting the highest level of interest from residential developers given the strong demand for houses in prime Dublin locations such as Donnybrook and the scarcity of premium development opportunities in the current market.

The success of two adjacent housing schemes, Bloomfield Park and Edward Square, would further underpin demand from national and international developers with an appetite for prime residential sites.

Four five-bedroom houses in Edward Square sold last year for between €1,375,000 and €1,409,000, while a three-bed mid-terrace house in Bloomfield Park made €765,000 last May. Since then, a two-bed apartment changed hands in the same scheme at €485,000.

The selling agents are also convinced that St Mary’s will attract the interest of hoteliers and hotel investors because of the shortage of hotel rooms in the city and the steep increase in room rates in recent years.

The Donnybrook property will be of particular interest to a new batch of housebuilders who have appeared on the Dublin scene over the past five years.

These include Cairn Homes who bought the 8.11-acre Marianella seminary, church and grounds at Orwell Road in Rathgar from the Redemptorist Order in June 2015 for €42 million. The superbly located site has permission for 199 apartments and 12 five-bedroom detached houses.