IT’S A SIGN of the times: a former petrol station on the Rock Road/Merrion Road, Dublin 4, which was earmarked for redevelopment into a €60 million 11-storey residential development, is due to open next week as . . . a petrol station.
In March, An Bord Pleanála approved the residential development on the site of the former Shell petrol station beside the Tara Towers hotel. Developer O’Mahony Finnerty secured permission to build 42 apartments on the site which fronts the Merrion/Rock roads and straddles the border of two local authorities, Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.
But the hoarding around the site has been taken down and Texaco, the new leaseholder, has been busy erecting signage, installing pumps and fitting out a shop.
Developer Fergal O’Mahony says there is “no truth whatsoever” to the rumour that Texaco has taken a five-year lease on the site saying his company is simply deferring the residential development for a year.
“We have good planning on it for 11 storeys and we might never achieve planning like that on it again.”
While he says the current downturn in the economy is a factor in their decision to wait until next year to start the development, he says another reason is that “we have so much other work”.
O’Mahony Finnerty bought the former Shell petrol station for €16 million last year.
